


No One Expected This to Be Easy

by AgapantoBlu, EvesMagick



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alpha!Kuroko, Alpha!Mayuzumi, Alpha!Momoi, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Asexual!Akashi, Beta!Murasakibara, Forced Marriage, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, omega!akashi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 19:47:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 91,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6623806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgapantoBlu/pseuds/AgapantoBlu, https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvesMagick/pseuds/EvesMagick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>By @agapantoblu and @eveismypenname, the Secret Collaboration everybody already knew of ^^"</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Akashi’s problems began when he presented as an omega and shamed his family legacy. Now he is sent to live with an alpha he doesn’t know, and life as he knows it with his friends and dreams comes to an end.</p>
<p>Kuroko never planned to buy a mate, but he knows the youngest member of the Akashi family faces a grim fate if he doesn’t intervene.</p>
<p>It all starts from here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

**CHAPTER ONE**

 

Momoi didn’t say anything.

When she realized Akashi’s fingers practically trembled with anger, she decided to pour his coffee for him this time. He normally took the beverage black, but she thought he could use a bit of sweetness in his life right now, so she added creamer and a couple of sugar packets. He said nothing when he took a sip, but she counted that as a victory.

Akashi wasn’t looking at her, but clearly preferred glaring at the table as if it had wronged him in the worst way possible. It wasn’t the table, obviously, but Momoi thought that was quite the situation, indeed.

“I am an individual with far better education and critical thinking skills than the supposed superior beings currently in power,” Akashi hissed, his voice somehow even more controlled and clipped in his fury. “Sending me to disappear in another man’s home is foolish.”

“I agree with you. This system is flawed at its very core, and I’m absolutely enraged with your father.” She sounded almost appeasing, but Akashi knew, because they had already talked about the subject so many times, that she meant every single word. Despite her status, Momoi could see the truth in their biased reality. She took a silent sip of her own coffee, already cold for the time she had spent trying to give a meaning to what her friend – no, her  _best_ friend – had been telling her, but when she laid the cup down again, she spoke in a slightly lower voice. “I keep telling you, Seijuro, marry me. Come live with me, and you can take whatever high-standing job you want. Nothing will change between us, you know that.”

However, even as she made the suggestion for the umpteenth time, Akashi shook his head. “I appreciate your offer, but I cannot allow you to sacrifice your chance at happiness for me.” Momoi was going to retort to that, but Akashi stopped her with a gesture of his hand. “Besides, my father has already chosen my betrothed, and I will go with him in less than six hours now.”

Momoi glanced at her cell phone screen and realized that Akashi was right. He escaped his father’s mansion in the dead of night in order to meet her at this coffee shop, but according to the clock, they hedged on four in the morning, and the man meant to marry Akashi was supposed to arrive for him at ten. She wished they could reach some sort of solution before then, but time slipped away, and no bright answer appeared. The only one she had, Akashi kept on refusing it.

She tried not to cringe too obviously, but as she put her phone away, she sighed.

“I know you will not, but don’t agree to anything you are not comfortable with,” she advised, “Not all alphas are cruel, and maybe this man will… understand.”

Akashi took another sip of his coffee, and his grimace did not seem to come from the overly sweet taste.

“Momoi, you and I both know that no alpha in this country will respect my…  _situation_. Especially when I am an omega now,” he huffed.

Momoi’s expression softened in sympathy. “Being an omega does not undermine your asexuality,” she promised. It would have made everything more difficult, that she knew, but she refused to let his friend loathe in dark thoughts about the matter. He was perfect as he was, nothing could change the great person she had grown fond of, not even his biology.

Akashi did not flinch at the last word, but his gaze darkened. Sensing his distress, Momoi changed the subject and tried to talk of lighter things, promising to visit him wherever he was no matter what or who she’d have to beat down to do so. Akashi spoke little, but he relaxed marginally up until the moment when he drained his coffee. Patrons with early morning jobs started to file into the coffee shop, and the sky lit up with the sun’s first rays.

“I should go,” Akashi said.

Momoi nodded though she wanted nothing more than to throw Akashi in her car and drive him back to her place, the rest of the world be damned. Instead, she escorted him to his own car and, just as he was about to get in, wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. To her surprise, he squeezed back.

For some reason, the gesture made something in her chest twitch painfully.

“You’re my best friend, and I am always here if you need me,” she murmured into the crimson locks of his hair. When Akashi only held her tighter, she understood the words he could not bring himself to say.

“And,” Momoi added, almost laughing in the irony, “happy birthday. Before all this happened, I wanted to surprise you with cake and hot chocolate, but now I…”

As her words trailed away, Akashi hugged her tighter. Of course his father chose the earliest time possible to rid himself of his failure of a son, and that meant leaving with his new mate on the very day that he turned nineteen. Not a second later.

Akashi pulled back from their embrace first, and he pointedly looked away when he said, “Thank you, Satsuki. You have always been the dearest friend to me, and I wish you well. However, no matter what sort of man my betrothed is, I will be seeing you again.”

“I expect nothing less,” she said, refusing to admit that the words had relieved her a bit. “Be safe.”

Akashi slipped into his car, and Momoi waved with a forced smile until he drove away from sight. When she retreated to her own car, she wiped away tears with the back of her hand.

 

 

While he was considered a member of a supposedly superior class of people as a member of the Akashi family, he never swallowed such mindless propaganda. He worked hard and performed perfectly in every way to earn his place at the peak of the hierarchy. Suddenly presenting as an omega last month did not change that, even if his father did abandon him afterward.

Before he presented, his father assumed him an alpha, so Akashi studied with qualified tutors, played the violin, and kept an ideal physique through exercise and, when his father was away, basketball. 

After all that, omega or not, the last thing he deserved was a monotonous life as a house pet in some asshole’s home.

Akashi parked his car in the garage. The action seemed bold as he was supposedly sneaking, but the garage was on the other side of the house of his father’s bedroom, and their walls were thick. Akashi took the servant’s entrance into the house, and he entered his own bedroom just in time for a servant to exclaim, “Akashi-san!”

Lips tilted into a pointed frown, Akashi lifted his eyebrows. “Yes?”

“Your father has already sent for you twice! You have a visitor,” she fretted.

Even though Akashi already knew the time, he checked the clock on his wall. Just past eight. His betrothed was not meant to arrive for another two hours.

“I will be down in a moment,” Akashi dismissed, and the servant shuffled out of his room.

As he changed into black slacks and a buttoned and collared shirt, Akashi tried to pretend that his stomach did not roll with anticipation, but even he was not immune to such things. Perhaps leaving home today would be a good thing if he father discovered he has sneaked away in the middle of the night.

Dressed and presented to perfection, Akashi emerged from his room and entered the parlor where his father, Akashi Masaomi, immediately glared at him with undisguised fury. Beside him, a slight man with pale blue hair regarded him with no emotion or expression whatsoever.

“Seijuro,” his father hissed. “How kind of you to join us.”

“Apologies,” Akashi replied with a bow, but judging by the way the man fumed, the gesture did not entirely hide his contempt.

“This is Kuroko Tetsuya, your betrothed,” Masaomi introduced pointedly.

Kuroko bowed before him and greeted, “Hello.” His voice was pleasantly cool, but Akashi despised the sound immediately.

“Seijuro, your manners?” his father prompted.

Akashi might have bowed, but his nerves already felt razor sharp and sensitive. Instead of playing the part of the submissive omega, he challenged, “I am hardly the one with a lack of manners when our guest arrived two hours earlier than agreed.”

His father’s skin color deepened to an alarming shade of red, but his betrothed barely blinked. Akashi half-expected a blatant show of rage, and his irritation only multiplied when Kuroko only bowed again.

“I apologize for my rudeness. I called ahead of time, but I understand it was not proper notice. An unexpected event placed me in the area, and I thought I might save time by picking you up now instead of returning here twice,” he explained.

“An unexpected event?” Akashi huffed, quite disinterested truthfully.

Before his father could scold him, Kuroko clarified, “My dog was acting oddly this morning, so I took him to the veterinary clinic near here. I must pick him up later in the week.”

Such an ordinary answer shocked Akashi, and the oddest thing was the slight show of concern in his betrothed’s blue eyes. He barely reacted to Akashi’s lateness and rudeness, but he seemed upset over his sick dog?

The senior Akashi looked irritated at Kuroko’s odd behavior as well. He likely expected and hoped for Kuroko to put his mate in his place from the start, but this was apparently not on the schedule for today. For one thing the alpha was rather small and frail-looking for his status. His slender build and pale skin made him seem almost sick, and Akashi wondered if that was the case. If so, that would make sneaking away to visit Momoi all the easier.

“Seijuro, have you packed your things?” his father snapped.

“I do not mind waiting if you need to gather your belongings,” Kuroko added, much to his father’s ire. Akashi wondered if he did that on purpose. Alpha rivalry, he supposed.

“I’m packed,” Akashi said.

A moment later found the servants loading Akashi’s bags into the trunk of Kuroko’s car, and Akashi did not hide his annoyance as his supposed-to-be mate and his father discussed last minute bits on Kuroko’s payment for Akashi’s hand. As if he was merely an object within a transaction, but they clearly viewed him that way.

When the time came for goodbyes, Kuroko respectfully stepped away to give Akashi privacy with his father, but there was no need.

Masaomi just showed his hand, palm up, and Seijuro, without a word, slipped both his wallet – his credit cards would be soon nullified and his documents would be sent to his mate, as he’d from now on be under the alpha’s complete responsibility – and his phone out of a pocket and laid them on his father’s hand. He silently hoped that the man wasn’t that determined to cut him out of the world to check the SIM card, and barely refrained himself from smirking as the other just slipped the device into his own pocket checking to make sure Kuroko didn’t notice.

The little victory didn’t lift the younger Akashi’s humor that much, but it was still a victory and his SIM weighted nothing in his jeans, carefully holding Momoi’s and another handful of contacts.

“Do not disgrace the Akashi family,” his father ordered.  _More than you already have._

Akashi nodded. There was no hug or gesture of affection. Akashi sat in the passenger side of Kuroko’s car, and Akashi’s father reentered his house. When Kuroko pulled out of the driveway, Akashi took one last glance of his childhood home and then pointedly stared forward. He felt no affection toward his betrothed and wherever they were going, but he also felt no particular fondness for his childhood home either.

Akashi glared at the road, and Kuroko made no attempt at conversation. The drive was silent.

 

 

Kuroko’s house was not quite the size of Akashi’s, but the mansion came rather close. Akashi’s father kept their house tastefully decorated but in a way that clearly showed his wealth. Besides the size of the place, Akashi might not have recognized Kuroko as wealthy if he had not known just how much all those books cost.

In one bookshelf alone, let alone the many that occupied every room.

“Your bedroom is upstairs,” Kuroko told him. “I can help you take your things up.”

“That’s not necessary,” Akashi coolly replied. Though he possessed three bags, accepting help from the man who basically bought him like a new possession went against his every instinct. He expected Kuroko to argue, but he only nodded and popped the trunk of his car.

Once Kuroko showed him his room, Akashi took his time moving his bags. He half-expected a servant to help, but Kuroko apparently did not employ such workers. Akashi wasn’t surprised from what he little he knew of the alpha.

When he moved all three bags, he took the time to survey his new home. Not all omegas had a room all to themselves, so Akashi supposed he should feel grateful, but he didn’t. He was a human, so a room was the least he deserved. He ought to have a house of his own rather than just a portion of someone else’s, to be honest.

“Akashi-kun, have you eaten? I thought I’d make sandwiches for brunch.”

Akashi most certainly did not jump, but Kuroko’s sudden presence at his doorway… might have surprised him a little. He normally kept such a sharp awareness of his surroundings that Kuroko’s subtle appearance disconcerted him.

When he turned, he made sure his expression showed how much he hated being here.

“I’m not hungry,” he said drily.

Kuroko tilted his head in inquiry, either ignoring or foolishly not noticing his guest’s hostility. “Are you sure? I imagine you did not have time to eat this morning.”

So his father did not entirely manage to hide that Akashi had sneaked out of the house. Still Kuroko’s tone hid nothing accusatory or distasteful, merely factual. Nonetheless, the bitterness still very present in Akashi’s every fiber kept him from accepting anything from this alpha, even food. Perhaps the action was foolish, for he could hardly starve himself to make a point, but the thought of sharing brunch with this man disgusted him.

“I am certain.”

Kuroko only nodded before disappearing once again. 

Akashi thought of unpacking then, but the sight of the full-sized bed, chest of drawers, and desk only angered him more. Putting his belongings in these drawers made everything real, and that was the last thing he wanted. Was it only hours ago that he and Momoi shared coffee?

Akashi peered outside his bedroom, and when he found the hallway empty, he catalogued the rest of the floor. There was his bedroom, a bathroom, a study, a closet, and another bedroom that Akashi guessed was Kuroko’s judging by the scent. He hated that he could already recognize the hint of vanilla as his betrothed.

He thought of going downstairs, but he assumed the kitchen along with Kuroko was there, so he returned to his bedroom instead. He unpacked one suitcase of clothing before he reluctantly curled onto the bed.

As much as he wanted to ignore all that belonged to Kuroko, he had not slept at all last night. The exhaustion lugged through his veins, and his anger and bitterness only encouraged giving into the temptation of darkness rather than facing his new life.

The foreign bedspread against his cheek and the unfamiliar surroundings in his line of sight, Akashi idly thought of his mother who always made frothy hot chocolate to wake him up on his birthday.

_Wake up, honey. It’s a special day, and you don’t want to miss one moment of it, my sweet boy._

Akashi let sleep take him.  _Happy birthday to me._

 

 

Kuroko made a grilled cheese for both himself and Akashi, but when he entered Akashi’s room to tell him this, he found the omega asleep. Kuroko supposed rest was the best thing for him now, so he dropped a blanket over Akashi’s still form, turned out the lights, and gently shut the door.

He understood Akashi’s resentment of him. Kuroko basically paid a sum of money to Masaomi in exchange for Akashi’s hand, and though he hated the action with every fiber of his being, Akashi had no way of knowing that. And even if he did, Kuroko would not expect a sudden change of feelings from him. After all, at the end of the day, according to the law of the land, Kuroko basically owned Akashi.

Kuroko had never felt anything but distaste for the systematic oppression of omegas, and while he benefitted from the abuse as a wealthy alpha, he tried to help in whatever way he could. He donated money to abuse shelters and charities meant specifically for omegas, and he always swore that he would never force one into a marriage with him.

At least, until he received a certain message from Akashi Masaomi.

Everyone knew of the Akashi family, of course. They were the wealthiest and most prestigious in Japan, and it was well known that the son would take over the family legacy once he came of age.

Then Kuroko checked his email a mere seven days ago to find an unusual message. He immediately found it weird, for he was from an old family that lost its influence during past generations. While he still inherited an admirable sum of money along with an estate, the Kuroko family removed themselves from politics and therefore disappeared from the public eye and surely Akashi Masaomi never dirtied his hands by interacting with him before.

Curiosity beckoning to him, Kuroko read the email and quickly understood the hidden meaning with the taste of ash in his mouth.

Masaomi offered Kuroko the golden opportunity to marry his oldest son, an omega, in exchange for a small dowry price. While Masaomi worded the email like a peace offering, Kuroko understood the truth between the lines for the disgusting business dealing that it was.

Masaomi wanted his son to disappear, and marrying into Kuroko’s household, far away from the public eye, was the perfect way to do it. Simple as that.

Kuroko’s immediate response had been to refuse the offer, but before he typed out a reply, he thought of the son, Akashi Seijuro. He must have just presented as an omega, and his father must have been furious at the turn of events. If Kuroko refused, Masaomi might sell his son to a far worse alpha - he could easily think about one or two already - and Kuroko shivered at the thought.

So he bought an omega, something he swore was beneath him. He hoped to at least give Akashi everything he wanted from life. If only his betrothed would let him, of course.

“You’re wasting your time. You don’t have to be nice to the rude little shit.”

The voice came just as bored-looking as his, but with a deeper and rougher tune, and Kuroko sighed, recognizing it without hesitation.

“Mayuzumi-kun, please do not speak that way of Akashi-kun.”

Kuroko finished putting Akashi’s grilled cheese in a container and then on a shelf in the fridge, and when he turned around, Mayuzumi leaned against the counter, arms crossed and expression unamused.

“Why shouldn’t I?” Mayuzumi snorted. “I met the kid in the prep school I went to last time I visited an old professor, and I know he's an asshole.” He made a disgusted face. “I can’t believe you’re going to mate with him.”

Kuroko did not blush or fidget, but he still glanced away in distinct discomfort. “His life will be better with me than with an alpha eager to take advantage of his position.”

“So that’s what this is? Doing all this out of pity?” Mayuzumi looked disinterested, but his words and his eyes showed he was not. He cared for Kuroko. He always looked over him since they were kids, like an older brother, and seeing him throwing everything away because of his damn big heart made him far more than angry. And the involvement of Akashi Seijuro didn’t make him feel any better about the last issue Kuroko jumped in, head first as always. “Because you deserve a life of your own, Kuroko. And the chance to find love.”

None of his words apparently reached their target.

“I appreciate your concern, but there is no need. Please be kind to Akashi-kun. You are my cousin, and you have every right in this home, but now that Akashi is part of the family, he does as well,” Kuroko reminded him.

Mayuzumi snorted. “We’ll see about that.”

Kuroko meant to end the conversation there, but an idea struck him. “Mayuzumi-kun, did Akashi-kun have any friends in prep school?”

Ten minutes later, Kuroko was typing in the number he found after a quick Internet search. Mayuzumi claimed that Akashi only spent his time around a pink-haired girl named Momoi Satsuki in school  _– “I bet he blackmailed her into that. Why else would someone spend so much time with that snob?” –_  and though he knew there was no guarantee that they were still friends, Kuroko hoped his idea would pay off.

The phone rang twice before a pleasant voice answered,  _“Hello?”_

“Hello, my name is Kuroko Tetsuya. Is this Momoi Satsuki?”

He had barely finished the sentence before a loud, and quite angry, yell cut through his brain.

_“The one who took Akashi-kun!”_

Kuroko tried to let his joy at guessing correctly outweigh the pain caused by the accusatory tone in Momoi’s voice. He reminded himself that this was for the good of Akashi, and he continued, “Yes, may I ask you a few questions?”

 

 

Akashi woke a little before sundown, and when he sat up, a blanket slid from his shoulders. He glared at the cloth as if it had harmed him because he knew who must have placed it there. He was not a child to be appeased or tucked in.

At least his first day in this house was almost at its end. Akashi wondered if his father had already mated, perhaps the moment Kuroko drove them away. Akashi had seen several photos of omega women in his father’s study, and he knew he planned to produce a new heir to the family legacy as soon as possible. An alpha this time.

After all, “Seijuro had  _failed_ ,” as Masaomi would have said.

Akashi slid off the bed and glanced around the room. Only the weak tendrils of sunset vaguely illuminated the outlines of the dresser, the desk, but mostly shadows occupied the space.

He did not particularly want to see Kuroko, but he also did not want to sit in the dark. He was also hungry, so despite the contradiction to his previous actions, Akashi went downstairs. He caught the scent of Kuroko immediately and followed the trail to the kitchen.

Kuroko sat at the kitchen table with a laptop in front of him. As soon as Akashi entered the room, the alpha lifted his gaze from his work.

“Hello, Akashi-kun, would you like dinner?”

Though Kuroko spoke with only gentle inflection in his pleasantly cool voice, Akashi narrowed his eyes into a glare. “Is this your way of appeasing your guilt? Feed me, give me a nice room, offer a blanket, and then you don’t have to feel bad for buying me like a prostitute off the streets?”

Kuroko slowly closed his laptop and gave Akashi his full attention though his expression remained unchanged. “Despite what you may believe, I do not plan to do anything against your wishes, Akashi-kun. I want you to be happy here. How do you feel about pasta?”

Akashi was a bit taken aback by the sudden change of subject, and before he could answer, Kuroko took a plate from the cupboard and filled it with pasta from a pot on the stove. He made to heat the plate in the microwave and fetch a fork, and as he worked, he continued, “I’m afraid Mayuzumi-kun and I already ate. I did not know if you planned to sleep through the night.”

“Mayuzumi?” Akashi repeated.

Kuroko nodded and retrieved the plate from the microwave. “Chihiro Mayuzumi is my cousin, and he sometimes stays here with me. He said you two already know each other?”

Akashi sat down where Kuroko placed the food, and he glared at the plate as angrily as he did the blanket earlier. “Yes,” he snipped.

Kuroko returned to his own chair, but he did not reopen his laptop. Rather, he watched as Akashi took his first bite of food and seemed pleased when Akashi took another.

“Mayuzumi-kun is usually in his room downstairs, but he will emerge sooner or later,” Kuroko added, as if trying to keep the conversation going. “He knows you are here of course.”

Akashi bristled at the thought. Back when the entire world assumed Akashi would present as an alpha, he attended a prep school specifically for the elite. He met Momoi there, but she was the only one he could call a friend. The school had encouraged and bred hostility and competition based on alpha pride.

Yes, he knew Mayuzumi, but neither had fond memories of the other. Akashi was not intimidated by any means, but he did not look forward to reuniting with his old classmate. If he’d known Mayuzumi was related to Kuroko, he might have even taken Momoi up on her offer to marry him. Of course he could never truly enforce that upon her though.

Akashi finished in silence, and Kuroko took his plate and rinsed it in the sink. They were both well aware that Akashi, as the omega, was expected to do such chores, but neither brought up the matter.

“I can show you around the house. We have a large library, and you’re welcome to read anything in it. There’s also a desktop computer that anyone can use.”

Though Kuroko spoke with perfectly enunciated words, Akashi gathered that he was unused to hosting people in this way. He did not show any obvious tics, but Akashi sensed his nervousness.

Akashi knew the Kuroko family was fairly irrelevant these days, so he understood Kuroko’s awkwardness. If he only had Mayuzumi for company, the kid probably went days on end without saying a word to anyone at all. He would have probably preferred that, too, instead of having to deal with the insufferable and cynical older alpha. 

Though Akashi allowed Kuroko to show him the rooms of the bottom floor, Akashi made a point of enduring the entire event with only surly silence. When he did speak, the comment was biting and harsh, but Kuroko only ignored him. Akashi expected him to snap at some point, but he kept his self control the entire time. 

It was irritating.

“It’s late,” Kuroko said once he showed the final room, the library at the end of the hall. Though Akashi wondered why they truly needed a library when every room hosted some bookshelf or another. “You are welcome to stay up, but I am going to my room.”

“I’d like to shower,” Akashi said stiffly.

Kuroko’s eyes widened. “Oh, of course. I apologize that I didn’t say this earlier. Mayuzumi-kun and I both have bathrooms within our bedrooms. The bathroom on the second floor is yours. Towels are under the sink.”

Kuroko did indeed seem tired, and by the time they both walked upstairs, Kuroko practically stumbled into his bedroom. He was an alpha, but he was so tiny and frail that Akashi barely believed it. What sort of alpha had that kind of low stamina?

Akashi swallowed his disgust and retrieved sleeping clothes from his room before locking himself in the bathroom.

It had been nice to sleep and forget his problems, but the shower was a different kind of relief. He scrubbed his skin and carded his fingers through his hair, and when he finished, he slipped into his pajamas feeling a little more himself.

At least until he emerged from the bathroom and a strong scent nearly choked him.

“Chihiro.” It was a hiss more than a greeting. 

“Hello, Akashi. How the mighty have fallen, huh?”

Akashi glared at where the gray-haired alpha leaned against the wall. He stared at him with blank eyes, but everything from his posture to his grimace clearly showed his distaste for him. Akashi held his dirty clothes in his arms, and he stood significantly shorter, but he still met Mayuzumi’s eyes in a clear show of defiance.

“I wouldn’t know,” he retorted. “I’m not one to let the limited viewpoints of others influence me.”

Mayuzumi’s expression darkened, and he pushed himself from the wall. It took only two steps for him to invade Akashi’s space, and one more placed them only an inch apart. Akashi refused to step back even when Mayuzumi’s scent threatened to overwhelm him.

“Let me make something very clear, you entitled brat.” As he had always acted as if the whole world was a huge annoyance for him, Mayuzumi had rarely taken part in fights or show-offs of alpha’s strength, but Akashi didn’t act surprised at the anger boiling in his voice or the thickness of his scent. “This is my house, and this is Kuroko’s house. You’re nothing but a charity case here, and if I hear you bossing Kuroko around again,  _I_ will put you in your place even if he won’t. Do you understand?”

Akashi put all the force into his glare that he could, and he knew his eyes practically burned with his fury. “How brave of you to finally confront someone you perceive as weaker than yourself,” he snarled instead of answering.

When Mayuzumi’s lips twisted into a sneer, Akashi spat, “I would have thought our time in school would have shaped us into fine respectable alphas. I suppose that particular branch of education was wasted on both of us.”

A low growl rumbled deep in Mayuzumi’s throat, and for a moment, Akashi thought the alpha would attack him, and he subconsciously lowered himself into a fighting stance, still holding his clothes from his shower or not. However, a slight rustle from behind Kuroko’s bedroom door reminded them both that they were not alone in this house.

This fact seemed to mean more to Mayuzumi, for he visibly regained control of himself and took a step back, hatred still burning in his eyes.

“You can act superior for now, but just wait,” Mayuzumi warned. “You’ll understand soon enough that you’re no longer the heir of the Akashi family. You’re just an omega. Nothing special, and that’s it.”

Akashi held his glare until Mayuzumi disappeared down the stairs, and then he finally allowed himself to dart into his room and lock the door behind him. The confrontation did not scare him, barely fazed him at all, but, oh, how he hated Chihiro Mayuzumi.

No matter what he said, Akashi was more than his family name, and he was more than his societal status. 

He would show them just how special he really was.


	2. Chapter 2

  

**CHAPTER 2**

 

The next morning, for a brief second, on the doorstep of a lingering dream, Akashi thought it had all been an illusion. He indulged himself in the fantasy of getting up, brushing the remnants of that nightmare from his skin with a shower and then moving on to breakfast, school, a pleasant lunch with Momoi’s friendly chattering buzzing through his ears and then working for his father in the afternoon.

His usual routine, packed as it was, would have been accepted as a blessing, but instead he opened his eyes in a room that for a moment he couldn’t recognize.

Right. The Kuroko’s mansion. _His_ new room. Right.

With a grunt, he rolled on himself, and in a fit of childish rebellion he pulled the blankets up to cover his face. He tried to imagine his _mate’s_ face if he were to refuse to get out of there for the rest of the day, but nothing but a cold and apathetic face came to his mind. With a sigh, he freed himself and stood, motionless, staring at the ceiling.

 _Omega._ The word kept on running through his brain for a while, as if desperately searching for an escape, and he indulged it, slowly forming it on his lips, finding them chapped in dryness. 

There was no use complaining about his nature – biology wasn’t known to bow to human’s wishes – so he finally decided to get up from his bed.

If his mate’s behavior from the previous day and the scent from downstairs were anything to go by, he would probably find food _and_ Kuroko in the kitchen, and his stomach tried to persuade him to give in, but his pride struck again, and he ignored the door to explore the big bookshelf beside the window.

It was clear that a good share of the books had been moved away, probably to leave room for his things, but there were still a lot of volumes, and Akashi guessed the house was so filled that there was no other place left to stick them in. As he explored, he recognized a couple of titles and pulled some out to read since he didn’t really have anything to do.

Omegas weren’t supposed to attend the highest levels of education like universities or colleges. They didn’t have to since they were supposed to have an alpha who’d take care of everything for them; they only had to stay home and take care of the house, meals, and all those things.

 _As if_ , Akashi almost growled those two words out loud, but even as his eyes shone in defiance, he kept silent, knowing fully well it would have brought him no advantage to put Kuroko on the defensive. Mayuzumi would have already complicated things on his own, just for the sake of annoying him, and he didn’t need any other inconvenience.

He laid the books he had taken on a drawer and pushed the curtain of the window just slightly to look outside. There were no bars, but it was too high to think about jumping, and even though the garden was far enough from the road to be hidden from any eventual passersby, there was no tree close enough to let him climb his way down, and the snow on the ground was too thin to soften a jump.

No big deal, he would just have to be careful while taking the main door. Kuroko didn’t look as if he had many people working for him – to be honest, he had yet to see anybody beside Mayuzumi, but it couldn’t be that the two of them were taking care of matters on their own, so someone had to be there, too – so it seemed like he would indeed be able to see Momoi soon. He just needed a bit of time to understand how Kuroko was going to act with him and to earn just enough trust that would allow him a bit more of freedom.

 _But first_ , he thought, letting the curtain fall. He turned and marched to the door of his room. _I need to learn the plan of this house._

 

 

The house was not difficult to remember at all. The shelves of books almost everywhere could make it difficult to discern the rooms at first, but it was clear that the structure hadn’t been built to trap people inside, nor had any particular measure been taken to secure entrances and exits. 

Akashi wasn’t sure if it was because Kuroko didn’t think he would escape or if he didn’t care. It was pretty certain that Mayuzumi had warned his cousin about Akashi’s “attitude,” but apparently it hadn’t been enough for Kuroko to worry about it. All the better for him.

He had just opened up the door to the umpteenth library – and he swore that was the _third_ – when he noticed some books on the ground behind one of the inner shelves. It looked weird if compared to the pristine perfection of all the other volumes, so Akashi couldn’t help but slowly approach the crime scene with a frown on his face.

He was careful as he peered behind the shelf, but he still had to blink once before his eyes registered the figure of one Kuroko Tetsuya sitting on the floor with books on his crossed legs and a little frown adorning his usually apathetic expression.

The sight kept Akashi still and startled long enough for the other to notice his presence and meet his gaze.

“Good morning, Akashi-kun. Did you sleep well?” 

 

 

Kuroko was surprised to see Akashi in the library. He would have guessed the other would have just locked himself up in his room for some time more and only come out for meals – if he bothered with those – and he could perfectly understand him. 

Akashi looked just as surprised as him for the accidental meeting, because he arched a brow questioningly, but obviously refused to voice his question. Kuroko guessed it all the same.

“I was just looking for a quote I read somewhere in one of these books,” he explained, gesturing at the volumes surrounding him. “I don’t plan on reading them again now, so I just figured I would find what I need and then put them back in their places later.”

Akashi saw it coming when Kuroko leaned his back against the shelf once more, but he said nothing and simply watched as a book in precarious balance fell from the furniture and landed with a soft thud on the alpha’s head. The consequent “ouch” was just as soft, and the omega watched in silence as Kuroko massaged his head with a hand.

He might have smirked as he turned and left the library.

 

 

Kuroko shifted on his hands and knees to look at his presumed-to-be mate leaving without a word, and he sighed when indeed the other closed the door behind him. 

He went back to sit in the middle of his scattered books, and even if he smiled a little, feeling like a chick in his nest, it was a bitter gesture. He really wanted to get along with Akashi, but it seemed like the other was determined not to give him any chance. Again, he could very well understand his reasons, and the situation wasn’t really in his favor, but he honestly didn’t mean to lock Seijuro up and throw the key away – as Mayuzumi had colorfully suggested.

He was brushing a book page with the tips of his fingers when his phone suddenly started buzzing.

He pulled it out of his pocket and hastily brought it to his ear when he recognized the caller ID.

“Momoi-san?” 

 

 

Akashi considered a victory the simple fact that he had managed to avoid Chihiro during his touring of the house, and by the time he slipped into the kitchen it was almost noon, and he was definitely hungry. It was the second day he skipped breakfast, and his body didn’t really seem all that happy about this new habit of his.

Refusing to rely on ‘the’ alpha, he picked some ingredients out of the fridge and decided to prepare something for himself, settling in the end for scrambled eggs and vegetables. He was taking the eggs from the fridge when he stopped briefly. He had no intention of becoming the personal maid of anybody, much less Kuroko – and _much lesser_ Mayuzumi – but his pride was annoyingly reminding him that the other had bothered to cook for him both at lunch and dinner the previous day, even if he hadn’t showed up.

He wasn’t really sure as to how that cohabitation thing was going to work – it couldn’t be considered a mating, he wouldn’t _let it_ _become_ a mating – so things like meals and chores were a bit of a dark horse at the moment. Kuroko didn’t seem to be expecting him to take care of those, but maybe he had only shown respect on his first day in the new house. Or maybe he didn’t want to always be the one to do those things. Where did Chihiro fit in the whole thing, also? Was he going to act like a third-wheel in this definitely-not-a-couple thing?

Thinking about it, was Chihiro mated? Akashi wasn’t sure since the other had always made sure to let his alpha scent out at its fullest just to disturb him, and any possible trace of an eventual omega mate had been covered completely. Akashi was also deadly sure _nobody_ on the whole universe would have wanted to be mated with Mayuzumi, but it wasn’t like omegas had any choice to begin with, so it wasn’t proof. But if Chihiro was free, wouldn’t it have made more sense for Masaomi to sell his son to him? He was exactly the kind of alpha Akashi knew his father wanted him to end up with, someone who’d shove him in his place and force him to submit. Or at least try to do so, because Seijuro didn’t plan to bow anytime soon.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of an engine, and when he spied out of the window, he found the gates opening to let Kuroko’s car out.

He stood there until the gates closed again with a clanging sound that made his stomach lurch in annoyance, and when he turned, he slammed the fridge door closed.

Kuroko could cook for himself for all he cared.

He reduced his eggs to a pitiful state and ended up switching to an omelet.

 

 

Mayuzumi’s description of Momoi had been “hot, big busted, pink hair,” and it had been enough to make Kuroko uncomfortable and dead set on never asking for his cousin’s help again.

When he entered the café she had given him the appointment at, he managed to spot her because the place was almost empty, and she was looking out the window, placing her long pink hair in perfect view from the door. Kuroko almost sighed in relief for not having to rely on the other hints.

He approached her slowly, trying not to scare her, but still when he tentatively called out her name, she jerked with a short shriek.

_That’s a good start, Tetsuya, really._

 

 

Momoi felt her heart beating in her chest like crazy, and when she turned, her hand had already grabbed the glass before her to use it as a weapon in case of necessity.

Her eyes laid on a short man with pale blue hair and hands lifted in a surrendering position. His face was completely unreadable, but something in the way his irises wouldn’t leave the glass she was holding let her know he wasn’t underestimating her threat.

Her guess of his identity only grew firmer when another client opened the door of the local restaurant, and the air shifted, bringing to her sharp nose both a scent of vanilla and old paper and the mixture of pine firewood and ginger that she’s grown fond of by spending so many days with its owner.

“Akashi-kun’s mate,” she stated, coldly enough for the man to know she was all but benevolent toward him. Even if, to be honest, he didn’t really look as she had expected him to be.

At least, Akashi Masaomi had possessed the decency to mate his son off to someone who was around the same age. She could have killed someone if the man had really turned out to be some old pig with a smug smirk and lascivious eyes as in her worst fantasies. Well, she was a good and overprotective friend after all.

But this alpha didn’t look like that at all. He seemed… quite weak to be honest. She was sure Akashi could have broken him with no effort. And he was pale, and his only worthy traits were his teal hair and those big blue orbs that he was using to stare at her.

Oh, he had apparently asked if he could sit.

“Suit yourself,” she said, still not meaning it in the slightest. She was suspicious; she had to be. She didn’t want to leave Akashi alone in this. “Kuroko Tetsuya, am I right?” She knew she was.

Kuroko still nodded as he sat before her, straight and respectful of her space. When the waiter came to their table, he looked at her first, but she pointed at the big coffee she had already ordered. She had also already paid for herself; she didn’t want to owe the man anything.

His choice of a vanilla milkshake indeed shocked her a little, but she didn’t let it show, and she drank some of her coffee while staring at him. Kuroko returned the gaze calmly, not getting minimally worked up over her hostility. If anything, his features softened a bit.

“You must care a lot for Akashi-kun,” he said, so out of the blue she almost choked on her beverage. Almost.

“I’ve been Akashi-kun’s friend since middle school,” she stated, coldly but without being able to stop the frown that was forming on her forehead. “I care for him more than simply _a lot_.”

Kuroko nodded, not showing any hint of jealousy over the show-off of the other alpha. Momoi, in spite of herself, had to admit it was notable. Usually, alphas got very possessive of their mates, but this one looked pretty collected and calm, able to keep his impulses at bay. It was a good thing, she guessed.

The waiter came with Kuroko’s order, and Momoi stared at him for a while before blurting out her thoughts.

“What did you do to him?” She _had_ to know. She had to know, so she knew how to take revenge for his friend properly. Really, she should have just shoved him in her car the day before, not letting him go.

Kuroko, unsurprisingly, looked at her with an apathetic face, but he blinked in weird way.

“This is mean, Momoi-san,” he said in the end. “I know my cooking skills are not the best in town, but they’re not that bad.”

Momoi blinked.

“Eh?”

He didn’t…? They didn’t…?! Akashi was okay?! _No, wait, he could be lying._

He didn’t look like he was lying though, especially as he sipped on his vanilla milkshake like some kind of grade schooler.

Momoi had to pinch her own thigh to remind herself she wasn’t supposed to find this man _cute_. Absolutely not.

Kuroko sighed as he laid his glass back on the table.

“You’re wary of me, Momoi-san. And it’s your right to be. Akashi-kun is also really…cold.” Momoi blinked once more. Was regret the emotion that flickered for a second in the apathetic voice of the man? She couldn’t tell, for it was gone too soon. “I understand. I came out of nowhere to take him away, even worse against his own will and on the base of a mere business deal with his father. You both are more than entitled to hate me if that’s what suits you.” Big blue orbs searched for hers, and Momoi froze for a second before realizing that those eyes were extremely similar to Akashi’s. Under the apparent coldness, they were really warm. “But please, believe me when I say I have no intentions of hurting Akashi-kun, nor of making his life miserable or difficult in any way.”

“You bought him,” she said, but she felt like she was already talking to herself more than the other. She felt like the worst friend ever for that, but the man seemed so honest… And if he really cared for Akashi-kun, that could make the situation a bit better. Maybe they wouldn’t fall in love, but a friendship was better than nothing.

“Trust me, I didn’t want to.” Kuroko never averted his gaze. He was firm and open. Sincere. “His father contacted me, and all the terms he posed the matter in…” For once, he closed his eyes. “He implied I was the best option Akashi-kun had.”

Momoi didn’t have difficulties believing that. Masaomi was in a hurry to get rid of his son, so it was no surprise that he had been the one making the first step to the agreement, but was it really possible that _this alpha_ , come out of nowhere, had really just accepted the offer because he felt bad for a person he had never met?

“You’re very selfless for someone so young,” Momoi muttered. “How old are you? Eighteen, nineteen?”

Surprising her, Kuroko’s face actually seemed a bit expressive when he let his eyebrows furrow.

“Momoi-san, I am twenty-two,” he offered, even if his tone was slightly pouting. “I am a bit older than you and Akashi-kun.”

Momoi froze at that. Her mind brought back all the dark fantasies she had had about old awful men forcing her friend into something he didn’t want.

Kuroko was twenty-two. Around twenty-five almost all the alphas already had their first child. It wasn’t uncommon because heats became rarer with age, and the labors, especially for males, could be extremely dangerous over the age of twenty-seven, or at worst, thirty. If he had decided it was time to take a mate, maybe that was what he wanted. But Akashi-kun definitely didn’t. He didn’t want to, absolutely not!

“No!” Kuroko’s eyes widened a bit when Momoi suddenly jumped on her feet, filled with the same rage that was boiling within her when Tetsuya had just arrived. “You can’t do that!” she hissed, uncaring of the gazes attracted by her behavior. “I won’t let you!”

 

 

Akashi’s luck obviously couldn’t go that far because Chihiro entered the kitchen when he was still working on his omelet.

Mayuzumi acted like he wasn’t even there and grabbed an apple from the basket of fruit. Seijuro ignored him just as much, glaring at the pan in his hand as if doing so would make his lunch cook faster.

“Glad to see you’re getting familiar with your omega duties.” Indeed, he had run out of luck. And his patience was running thin.

“Your cousin is out, Chihiro,” he hissed while trying to keep calm, his eyes always on his omelet, “This is for me.”

Mayuzumi clicked his tongue in a way that burned a fifth of the patience Akashi had left.

“So you helped yourself? It’s not really polite, you know.”

Finally, Akashi turned off the fire under the pan and slipped that on a dish before turning to glare at the alpha sitting on the counter, his legs dangling right in front of the drawer of cutlery and chopsticks, blocking it.

“I don’t like this whole thing just as much as you don’t, Chihiro,” he hissed. “It would make the both of us far happier if we’d just avoid each other.”

Mayuzumi jumped down from the counter, ending up a mere inch from Akashi who begrudgingly had to look up at him from below. Chihiro was expressionless as always, but his eyes shone in a malicious way.

“It would make _you_ happier,” he corrected. “What would make _me_ happier would be for my cousin not to be stuck with a selfish spoiled brat.”

Akashi snorted at that. “It’s not my fault he has to share the house with you.”

Like their last encounter, Mayuzumi seemed ready to kill him, but this time it was his phone ringing that put a stop to the hostility. Akashi wasn’t expecting that to be enough, but the ringtone made Mayuzumi suddenly tense, something strange flashing in his eyes, and in a second he was leaving the kitchen and hastily answering the phone. But not before sending Akashi a look that clearly said he wasn’t done yet.

For a second, Seijuro contemplated burying a knife in his back, but decided against that. He was a man of pride, so when the time came, he would stab Chihiro in the chest, fair and square.

He grabbed a pair of chopsticks, his plate, and a little bottle of water, and then he locked himself in his room again. He had had enough of Mayuzumi for the rest of the month at least.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're very sorry for how long it took us to update this! As you probably know, we chose to post a chapter as soon as we're finished with the one we're working on but we had a problem we needed to work out so we're ready just now. We hope for the updates from now on to be faster, we're working in that direction.

 

**CHAPTER THREE**

 

Kuroko drove the entire ride home in silence. His mind raced in vivid color and overwhelming sound, but as he took the right turns and stopped at the proper places, nothing disturbed the atmosphere that surrounded him. Even when he parked outside a store and made a quick trip inside, he still maintained his facade of calm detachment. 

Red light, brake. Turning signal, slow down, pull the steering wheel to the left, straighten. The motions came easily as his muscles recalled what his mind could not.

His thoughts were occupied by other things.

_\---_

_“No! You can’t do that! I won’t let you!”_

_Kuroko’s eyes widened, and he held his hands up in a surrender but he did not quite understand. Did his age offend Momoi? Yes, he was three years older than Akashi, but alphas sometimes mated omegas half their age. Then Kuroko thought of her exact wording again._

_“Won’t let me what?” Kuroko inquired. He kept his voice purposefully calm and soothing in hope that Momoi would mimic him. Already, half the establishment stared at them, and Kuroko would hate to get banned for disturbing the peace. For one thing he liked the coffee here._

_Momoi planted her hands on the table and leaned forward so she sneered directly into his face. At least no one else would overhear her next words._

_“I won’t let you force Seijuro into a family he doesn’t want! You might want kids, but Seijuro isn’t ready, and he might never be, and you’re going to have to deal with that,” she fumed._

_Kuroko peered through her anger and deciphered the genuine concern underneath. “He doesn’t want a family or kids?” he attempted, trying to understand._

_“He doesn’t want sex, you idiot.” was the hissed answer he brutally received, “He’s asexual, and you better not force him into something he doesn’t want because you’re the alpha and you feel like you need a bunch of kids to feel superior, or I swear I will fight you for him and for all that’s holy this damn status of mine might be actually useful, for once.”_

_Kuroko’s lips parted in surprise, and Momoi seemed to realize what she said a moment too late. Startled by her own words, she finally returned to her seat. Her big eyes shone of a sincere and tender regret Kuroko knew wasn’t toward him. They stared at each other in shocked silence while the rest of the cafe lost interest in their plateaued argument._

_Finally, Momoi murmured, “I shouldn’t have said that.” Her voice trembled, “It was Seijuro’s secret to tell, and I shouldn’t have… I should not have told you that.”_

_“No, I’m glad you did,” Kuroko admitted. Her pink eyes burned with fury, so the blue-haired alpha quickly added, “I will not use the information against him. Rather, I hope to make him more comfortable. I’m glad I know this to take precautions for when his heat comes.”_

_Momoi narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but the slightest bit of hope peeked from behind her wariness. If what she said was true, Kuroko could understand why. So few in their society acknowledged asexuality at all, but in an omega, it would be considered preposterous, even rebellious. Any alpha but Kuroko might have supposedly corrected Akashi’s thinking from the start._

_“I give you my word, Momoi-san, that I will not touch Akashi-kun if he does not wish it. I only have his best interests in mind,” Kuroko promised._

_Her gaze still too closely resembled a scanner, but then her lips twisted into a smile, and the foreboding feeling in Kuroko’s stomach somehow grew worse._

_“Fine,” she said. “I’ll believe that you won’t touch Akashi-kun if you prove that you have his best interests at heart.”_

_Though the turn in conversation seemed promising, Kuroko did not dare relax. “How shall I do that?” he asked._

_“There’s something else you need to know about Akashi-kun.”_

 ---

Despite the fact that the pink-haired alpha wore intimidation like a scarf and manipulation like a hat, Kuroko decided he liked Momoi Satsuki. He could easily see how she and Akashi would be friends. They both shared a certain power, some mixture of charisma and strength, that had nothing to do with biology.

He was also very lucky to consider her an ally now because Kuroko knew he stood no chance against her as an enemy.

When he finally returned to his home, he hid his package in his room first. He’d take the surprise up to Akashi’s room when he was certain the omega was occupied elsewhere. Then he trailed to the kitchen where he noticed clean dishes drying by the sink, just enough for a meal for one. Akashi must have cooked for himself.

Caressing the dish absentmindedly, Kuroko wanted to interpret this as a good sign, for that meant Akashi was settling into life here. However, while he never gave up on someone, he also lived with a healthy dose of realism. The single dish and fork hinted that Akashi purposefully only cooked for himself, and while Kuroko did not mind, he also recognized the sign of rebellion for what it was.

He muffled the urge to sigh. After all, he could not have expected an overnight change.

Kuroko trekked up the stairs and softly knocked on Akashi’s bedroom door.

No answer.

Another soft knock.

Nothing.

Kuroko cracked the door, and when he glimpsed Akashi propped on his bed, he pushed the door open completely. The red-haired omega leaned against a throne of pillows with a book positioned against his legs, and he glared as he finally lifted his gaze.

“Do not bother knocking if you plan to enter anyway,” he huffed.

“When you didn’t answer, I worried,” Kuroko responded evenly.

“That I had escaped?” Akashi challenged. He shifted from his relaxed position to a stance noticeably battle-ready.

Kuroko shook his head slowly though the idea crossed his mind. “You could have been sick or hurt,” he explained.

Akashi lifted his eyebrows in a clear indication of his disbelief, and Kuroko idly wondered how he acted around his friend, Momoi Satsuki. As every action and word from her radiated such strong protectiveness, they must care very deeply for each other. Akashi likely showed her a softer side of himself that Kuroko would never see.

He tried not to let that thought sting too badly. He wanted to give Akashi the best life he possibly could in these circumstances, nothing more.

“The only possible danger to me is the moronic presence of your cousin,” Akashi spat.

“Mayuzumi-kun is not to bother you, and he will be spending much of his time with his mate. Now that I’m home, he will likely go there this evening,” Kuroko said.

Akashi’s features twisted into something almost like pain as if he’d muffled the urge to snort. “He has a mate?” he relayed coldly instead.

“Yes, Mibuchi-kun mated with Mayuzumi-kun nearly a year ago. They have an apartment elsewhere, but Mayuzumi-kun does not like that I live alone, so he and his mate spend many nights here to keep me company. At least, until now.”

“Now he stays because he doesn’t trust me,” Akashi finished.

Kuroko was not entirely sure ‘trust’ was the true issue here, but he decided to leave that topic alone for now. Rather, he’d like to cross this gap between them and reach some sort of understanding. He truly did want the best for Akashi, and while Momoi seemed to believe him now, he did not know how to convince the omega himself. Perhaps his package would help.

Or some other form of bonding.

“Would you like to help me cook dinner?” Kuroko offered.

Then again, that might not have been the correct move. Akashi’s expression twisted into a sneer, and Kuroko noticed how his scent, already defensive, turned hostile.

“You do not have to,” Kuroko added quickly. “You are welcome to continue reading or whatever else you wish to do. I just thought we might do something together.” 

The damage had already been done, for hatred and contempt swirled in Akashi’s eyes. Kuroko tried to smother the swelling distress inside him, and he was secretly thankful that his scent remained faint even under normal circumstances. When he made an effort, no one could discern his emotions. Not even painfully intelligent omegas.

“I will begin dinner then,” Kuroko said and left the room. He did not run away exactly, but he understood the value of a hasty retreat.

As he returned to the kitchen, he thought back to what Momoi told him.

_\---_

_“Treat him like a person,” she advised, tossing her long pink hair behind her back. “He knows more than any alpha you’ll meet, is one of the smartest and most skilled people around, a fated winner, and he’s not going to be satisfied with cooking and cleaning. He likes games of strategy, the violin, even horseback riding.”_

_Her eyes practically sparkled when she added, “And it was his birthday yesterday, so here’s your opportunity number one to prove you care about Seijuro-kun.”_

 ---

Kuroko began chopping vegetables and wondered where exactly he had gone wrong.

 

 

_“I just thought we might do something together.”_  

Of every millisecond that made up his most recent interaction with his alpha, this was the part Akashi could not comprehend. He understood ordering him to cook; he even found Kuroko’s retraction of the order unsurprising, for the alpha likely realized the oncoming battle would not be worth the potential result. 

However, that last part.

What alpha bothered with mundane bonding over cooking? Normally, the mating process consisted of payment, intercourse, and then a dismissal until the alpha decided they wanted their mate again. Occasionally orders to do the cooking and cleaning, but not an offer to do so together.

Was this Kuroko’s way of appeasing his guilt for eventually raping Akashi? Perhaps his frail appearance hid an even frailer heart, and he wanted a justification for the later deed.

While this explanation made the most sense, it did not completely satisfy him either.

Akashi tried to return to his book, but the issue nagged at him. The plot suddenly seemed frail and pathetic compared to the mystery unfolding around him. He needed to conduct some research, but his options were limited in his bedroom.

As much as Akashi wanted to ignore the entire world outside this space, perhaps now was a good time for some reconnaissance.

He took his book, padded down the stairs, and entered the kitchen. When Kuroko glanced up from the stove with surprise, Akashi only sat at the kitchen table and cracked the book open to where he left off. He pointedly began to read and said nothing to answer Kuroko’s unspoken question.

After a few moments, the blue-haired alpha returned to his cooking. Stir-fry apparently.

Akashi read, Kuroko cooked, and the silence continued until the elder of them eventually scooped a helping on each of two plates. Akashi only looked up from his book when the alpha set his plate in front of him.

Kuroko sat across the table, and they mutually said their thanks for the meal. Akashi took small bites, and though the food was hardly exemplary, he also didn’t think he’d suffer food poisoning that night at least. The other's bites were miraculously even smaller than his, and he struggled through his portion.

“Did you like the book?” Kuroko inquired. 

“I am not finished with it,” Akashi replied tensely.

Kuroko raised an eyebrow at the slip of paper Akashi was using as a bookmark. “You’re not?” he questioned.

“I still have seven pages left. I am withholding opinion of the book until I know how it ends,” Akashi answered.

The alpha nodded slowly. “A lot can happen in seven pages,” he agreed.

Akashi eyed his mate from over his plate, and though he ventured into the kitchen to gather information, he still did not know what to make of him. Did he truly believe cooking him a meal and asking about his reading would earn Akashi’s trust? Besides, why did he bother with trust when Kuroko could technically order whatever he wanted from him? Not that he would comply, obviously, but still.

“There is a sequel,” Kuroko continued. “If you are interested in pursuing the rest of the story.”

“I am withholding opinion.”

“Fair enough.”

Akashi finished his meal first, so while Kuroko played with his own vegetables and rice, he finished the last seven pages. Though the plot felt dull in his bedroom, he held a different opinion now.

“Where is the sequel?” Akashi asked when he closed the book.

The smallest of smiles flitted across Kuroko’s lips. “The bookshelf by the coffee table in the parlor. Somewhere on the second-to-top shelf. I’ll do dishes while you search for it.”

Reconnaissance and suspicions aside, Akashi followed his instructions, and after fifteen minutes, mentally cursed the cluttered alpha. The book he sought was actually on the bottom shelf, and even then, Akashi needed to unbury it from a stack of light novels. Was there no organization in their filing system?

He just stood with the triumph of the book in his hand when his back suddenly slammed into the wall, barely six inches from the bookshelf. A heavy scent flooded his senses, and Akashi fought the urge to vomit. Two clawed hands trapped him between the wall and a leering, heavy body.

“And what do you think you’re doing?” Mayuzumi snarled, a hint of fangs revealing themselves.

Akashi fought to keep his voice even and unaffected. He still clutched the book even while his arms hung uselessly at his sides. “I don’t see how that’s your business,” he retorted.

“It’s my business when you force my cousin to dote on you, give you gifts, cook for you, and then clean your dishes while you what? Peruse the bookshelves? You’re not Prince Akashi Seijuro anymore, you little brat. You’ll learn your place here one way or another,” he hissed.

If Akashi thought the scent strong before, his eyes watered at the heavy smell now. He once heard that an alpha’s scent could be comforting to an omega, but not like this. Mayuzumi wanted to overwhelm him, and Akashi’s senses flared with activity and awareness. He felt the beginnings of claws piercing into his shoulders, and he wondered how soon they’d puncture his skin.

“You would be wise to unhand me now,” Akashi warned, and while he was shorter and thinner, there was danger in his words.

Or there should have been. Mayuzumi’s anger clearly overwrote any feelings of self-preservation — and if Akashi was honest with himself, what could he really do anyway? — and the gray-haired alpha growled low in his throat.

He gripped Akashi’s shoulders until the first beads of blood dampened his shirt, and then he slammed Akashi against the wall again.

Akashi gritted his teeth and fought to keep control over his mental processes. He refused to react to the scent or the pain while he knew he needed the full capacity of his mind.

“Mayuzumi-kun!”

Oddly enough, curiosity piqued Akashi’s interest over the newcomer before the rest of his emotions. He had begun to wonder if Kuroko showed any feelings at all, but he certainly revealed his inner self now. His features darkened dangerously, and though he stood a little shorter than Akashi, he stormed forward and placed a firm hand on Mayuzumi’s forearm.

“Release Seijuro now,” Kuroko hissed, his voice lower now but just as full of mirth.

First name? Ah, now Akashi understood.

The bedroom of his own, the food, the sudden show of possession, and now the familiarity of a first name. Akashi glared coldly at Kuroko as the blue-eyed alpha pushed between him and Mayuzumi. Despite his small size he possessed a surprising amount of hidden power.

Mayuzumi let go of Akashi’s arms and stepped back, but he still glowered down at him, and Akashi returned the hateful glare with twice the force.

“I warned you about him,” Mayuzumi growled. “He’s a spoiled brat, and he’ll take all you have and make you miserable. Already, you serve him like you’re the omega.”

“No matter what your reason, there is no excuse for using physical violence, especially against someone younger than you,” Kuroko scolded. While his words resembled that of an elderly schoolteacher, the fire in his eyes finally revealed a bit of the alpha inside him.

Mayuzumi physically gritted his teeth, and the tension in his muscles clearly showed his desire to continue. Akashi almost wanted to look smug, but he did not misinterpret this situation in the slightest. He realized that neither one of these alphas was his ally.

“Perhaps you should go for a while, Mayuzumi-kun. Call Mibuchi-kun. Spend the night with him,” Kuroko said, his voice softening. However, there was no room for misinterpretation. This was an order, not a suggestion.

“I see where your loyalties lie,” Mayuzumi grumbled, and he finally averted his eyes.

Kuroko’s whole posture softened, and despite the loaded words, the tension slowly evaporated between them. “You know that is not true,” he gently chided.

Mayuzumi nodded once and then left the parlor. Akashi watched him go, noting every minuscule movement of his body, and then he turned his gaze to his new enemy. Kuroko stared at him as well, and they measured each other with equally perceptive eyes for several moments.

On some level Akashi was actually relieved. While he knew better than to look for kindness in an alpha, Kuroko’s odd behavior had made him wonder. Now the masks had dropped between them, and Akashi understood his position here. Unfortunately, Kuroko would soon have to learn just what Akashi thought of that supposed role.

Kuroko finally broke the silence. “I apologize for my cousin’s behavior. He does not normally act this way.”

Akashi fought the urge to snort. If Mayuzumi somehow managed a mate of his own, he was likely worse behind closed doors, not that Kuroko would admit to that.

“You are still distressed,” the alpha realized. Akashi tensed further as he noticed how the other picked up on his scent.

Since he always assumed he’d present as an alpha, he never extensively studied techniques of disguising and hiding his scent. Alphas used theirs to communicate their dominance, so there was no need. Now however, his emotions showed themselves to everyone, and Akashi struggled to regain control.

Kuroko’s expression softened, and a moment later, Akashi felt his muscles relax, and an odd serenity creeped over his thoughts like a blanket. The calm tempted him to fall into its embrace and surrender his worries.

_No._

Akashi physically jerked when he realized where the foreign feelings originated. Kuroko released some of his own scent in an attempt to calm him, make him more pliant, and Seijuro refused to let this become so easy for him.

If he was dazed on his alpha’s scent, he would be effortless to take.

Akashi waited with clenched fists for Kuroko to make his first move. He had already rescued him from a big bad alpha and softened him with nice food and his calming scent. Did he think Seijuro would go easily, or was he prepared to fight and throw him around in order to get what he wanted?

Kuroko only stood and watched, and his forehead wrinkled with frown lines.

“It has been a long day. Perhaps we should retire early tonight,” he suggested.

Akashi tensed in preparation for the next line. All the variations flew through his head. _Why don’t you come to my room? Prepare yourself for me, and I’ll be waiting. Let me show you a way we can destress._

“I am going to make some tea,” Kuroko said. “Would you like a cup?” _A narcotic?_

Akashi shook his head.

“As you prefer, then. Goodnight, Akashi-kun.”

Kuroko retreated from the parlor for the kitchen, and Akashi stood in shock for a moment. He stared down and realized that he still held the book in his hand. He felt as if he had been searching for it in another decade.

When he heard Kuroko rustling in the kitchen, he went up the stairs as quickly as he could without running. He slipped into his bedroom and shut the door behind him. There was no lock of course.

So he placed the book on his dresser, and then he took the chair from his desk and pulled it to the bed. If Kuroko tried to come inside, he could crack the chair legs over his head and make a run for the door.

Akashi waited, poised on his bed to do just that, when he heard Kuroko coming up the stairs. His every sense sharpened in preparation for the coming fight. The alpha stepped closer and closer, approaching his door… and then passing right by it. Akashi practically stopped breathing as Kuroko walked by without even lingering outside his room. A moment later, he heard the door shut to the nearby bedroom.

A minute passed. And then five.

Kuroko made no gesture to leave his room.

Akashi slowly relaxed, but his mind still raced with possibilities and confusion. So Kuroko truly did not want to mate with him tonight? Was he trying to make Akashi drop his guard?

As his thoughts trailed after one another, Akashi dragged his chair back to his desk, and then his eyes landed on something he had missed earlier. His rushed preparation for a battle had occupied his mind when he first entered the room, but now he noticed a small package on the desk. There was a note on top.

**_"Happy belated birthday — Kuroko Tetsuya"_ **

Kuroko knew his birthday was yesterday? Well, it wasn’t all that surprising, the date must have been on his paperwork whenever he made the deal with his father. Even so, why would Kuroko buy him a birthday gift? Was this what Mayuzumi meant when he accused him of taking advantage of the alpha earlier? 

Akashi eyed the wrapped package as if he expected the object to suddenly do him harm. However, when another moment passed without incidence, he ripped through the wrapping paper almost violently.

A shogi board. Game pieces included.

How could Kuroko have possibly known…?

Akashi clutched the familiar board, felt the wooden resistance yet lightness, the smooth surface, the coldness, and he thought of how his mother once bought him one just like it. She’d noticed the books his father made him read, and when he had admitted that he liked the strategy in the dusty history texts, she’d smiled and proclaimed that he could at least earn a game from the studying.

He had not understood what she meant until the next day when she presented him with the shogi game set. He’d picked up on the rules quickly, and he’d played everyone who would sit with him for more than five minutes. His mother had even taken an online class to provide a better opponent for her son. She had always gone above and beyond for him… until she couldn’t anymore.

Akashi returned the board to his desk and angrily palmed at his eyes. If only strategy and logic worked as well for him as it did in his childhood. None of his hypotheses seemed to prove true anymore.

He turned to perhaps retrieve the book from the dresser and read in bed when his body tensed without his control. Heavy footsteps suddenly stormed up the stairs, and Akashi wondered if Mayuzumi came to finish what he started. Instead, the alpha passed his room and went to Kuroko’s. Surely he would not harm his own cousin out of alpha pride?

Then the wailing started. The words were so high-pitched and frantic that Akashi almost didn’t recognize them as coming from Mayuzumi.

“We have to leave now. He’s in danger, and if we don’t go, anything could happen—”

“Mayuzumi-kun, please calm down. Now what—?”

“Reo’s in heat! He’s at the train station where anyone can smell him! He’s too delusional to do anything, he just barely answered the phone when I called him!”

“Why is Mibuchi-kun at a train station in his condition?”

“He didn’t know it was coming! He should have had more than two weeks to go still but it came too early, and he was actually coming here. He called me earlier, and I told him about your new mate, and he wanted to meet him, and I just—” A sigh and then a deep breath. “Please come with me. I may need help keeping other alphas away from him.” 

“Of course. Go start my car. I will be there in just a moment.”

Akashi listened to more frantic steps take the stairs downward this time, and he was not surprised when a knock quickly followed on his door.

He didn’t answer, but Kuroko still peeked his head in just enough to view Akashi on his bed. “I am sorry to intrude, Akashi-kun, but I am afraid the circumstances are dire. Mayuzumi-kun and I must attend to some business, and I am not sure when we will return. You are welcome to anything in the house, food or otherwise. Have a good night.”

Kuroko shut the door behind him, gone as quickly as he appeared.

Akashi found himself alone in a house that did not truly belong to him, with only a shogi board and far too many thoughts to hope to sleep through the night.


	4. Chapter 4

 

 

**CHAPTER FOUR**

 

It should have been easy to ignore whatever emergency Mayuzumi and Kuroko were caught up in, yet Akashi found himself on his feet at the window of his room, the back of his hand holding the curtain to the side in an elegant and melancholic manner. It was deep night, but the full moon in the sky shone enough to light up the subtle layer of snow on the ground, painting everything into an irritating shade of teal Akashi was honestly growing sick of.

Still, he kept on looking outside, beyond the metal fence shielding the garden from reality to the street were cars ran and vanished, just as uncaring as their drivers. Maybe he was a bit of a masochist, forcing himself to view the sight of something he had – no matter how much he kicked and growled – inevitably lost. 

It was enough for him to absentmindedly lay the other palm on the glass, the cold creeping through his skin, for his mind to run back to the word he had tried so hard to shut out.

_Heat._

A loud slam made him turn suddenly, and the curtain fell on his illusion as a thick scent filled the house immediately, invading his room, choking him.

It felt like listening to an old familiar song played in a different key. The sound, _the scent_ , was different to him, but at the same time he could have recognized it everywhere in any moment.

\--- 

_“Seijuro-kun?! Seijuro-kun?! What are-… Oh, God.”_

 ---

The memories hit him hard enough to make him stumble and force his hands to grab the desk chair to keep him on his feet. He tried to breath through his mouth, yet he felt it like he was drinking pure alcohol, vanishing on the tip of his tongue yet intoxicating him all the same. 

He would have called it a pattern, a nuance, but he wasn’t sure those were the words; still, he had never smelled that scent before, yet the clear… _print_ of heat was there, strong enough to bring back full force the memories of the only time he himself had _reeked_ like that.

He was halfway through his eighteenth year of life when he had collapsed, out of the blue, in the corridor of his dorm. He had lost consciousness as Momoi’s face shifted from her usual playful smile to full terror, her hands firmly around his shoulders; he had regained lucidity in his room, surrounded by cold sheets, at his father’s yells.

It had lasted only three days. It wasn’t a real heat but merely something in his body clicking as he presented an omega – the latest bloomer he had ever known of – but it had been enough to make him wail and scream as he convulsed in his bed. It was all dizzy in his mind, but he could well remember the room locked, nobody to help him and occasionally the angry sounds and scents of some alphas from the security trying to break in, going mad in his smell.

He didn’t realize he had moved ‘till when he heard the chair hitting the floor, but he didn’t turn to look at it.

He wasn’t an alpha. It wasn’t the scent as much as its meaning that was shocking him, but he still knew for a fact that if the omega in heat coming inside the house – how long had it taken for him to reach his door? barely a handful of seconds – was Chihiro’s mate, Mayuzumi would be enough out of himself to kill him on sight. Knowing that, he cracked the door of his room open just enough to peek outside, his eyes focused on the entrance door that he could see from there.

Kuroko was closing it, fast and forceful, his phone locked between his ear and shoulder, but Akashi’s eyes were drawn inevitably by the other two figures.

Mayuzumi had only his head turned to his cousin, his body was busy shielding the figure he was carrying bridal style, unknowingly offering it to Seijuro’s eyes. The ‘figure’ was a man, tall and slim from what could be seen, and with pitchy black hair that reached his shoulders; his face was hidden in the crook of his mate’s neck, but Akashi could see how his hand was clutching the shirt on Chihiro’s chest, almost ripping it, and how his legs trembled, sometimes falling to the spasms of his body.

“Murasakibara-kun has sent all the alphas on the security force away,” Kuroko said, nodding, and even from upstairs Mayuzumi’s relieved sigh was clear. “The substitutive betas won’t arrive ‘till tomorrow at lunch, but at least now Mibuchi-san is safe.”

“I’m bringing him to my room.” Mayuzumi almost hadn’t listened to his cousin’s words. He was too busy running out of Akashi’s sight, and the door of his room being slammed almost – _almost_ – covered a pained cry from his mate.

Akashi had something stuck in his throat, and it was becoming difficult to breath.

He lifted his head, his fists clenching as the scent in the house shifted just enough to signal to the world the omega was ‘not available anymore,’ and he froze for a second as he met azure confused irises.

Kuroko’s face showed nothing, but the way his eyelids twitched just slightly betrayed his surprise.

Seijuro didn’t wait to see his lips pronounce his name, but he slammed the door closed and laid with his back against it, forcefully trying to keep it closed. Kuroko had been in contact with an omega in heat; his senses were probably screaming at him to act, to mate, to take. Akashi wondered briefly if he had the time to run for the chair before the alpha got to his door, but the sound of steps approaching answered him.

He buried his feet more on the floor.

“Akashi-kun.” Akashi tensed, even if Kuroko’s voice sounded just as calm and even as it had done that night at dinner. But it couldn’t be that he was completely unfazed by the hormones of his cousin’s mate; he must have been aroused.

_\---_

_“Let me pass, now!”_

_“He is…”_

_“He is the reason I’ll bite all your throats off if you don’t let me through right now, you idiots!”_

_“What’s happening here? Momoi-san? What-…? Akashi-kun?!”_

_“Sensei! Please, he needs help!”_

_“All right, I’ve got him. Momoi-san, now it would be better if you…”_

_“I’m not leaving!”_

_“Momoi-san, you’re an alpha! We can’t be sure you won’t…”_

_“He’s my friend!”_

_“It won’t matter when his body starts producing the normal amount of hormones, Momoi-san. I am sure you don’t wish to assault your friend, do you?”_

_“I-…!”_

_“I am a beta, Momoi-san. I will take care of him, and you can wait in the corridor outside the infirmary. Is this okay?”_

\--- 

Heat hormones were disgusting. It was all he could think about as he readied himself for the upcoming battle. Even Momoi had had to leave him because of those, and she was the only one he had ever trusted. 

“Akashi-kun, I am sorry.”

_What?_

Akashi didn’t relax, but he turned his head a bit, to listen to the apathetic voice of his alpha, trying to picture what he was going to do. There was a lamp on the desk; he could use that as a weapon better than the chair, even if it would probably inflict far less damage.

“My cousin and his mate’s house is rather far from here, and Mibuchi-san has been in heat for almost three hours already; taking him there would have taken too much time, so we had no choice but to bring him here. But I promise you that the both of them will be extremely discrete. I’m still sorry you had to see this.”

Even admitting it was sincere – which Akashi was pretty sure it wasn’t – that was a useless act of kindness. He didn’t feel any jealousy or territoriality. The presence of the other omega didn’t disturb him in the slightest, and if what Kuroko referred to was the poor state the man had been in after almost surely being harassed and assaulted before his rescue, well, Seijuro would find it extremely ironic coming from the very person who’d probably be _his_ assaulter soon enough.

All the hypocrisy made him sick.

“Akashi-kun…” came Kuroko’s low voice, but Akashi hissed at him before he could finish his sentence.

“I get it!” _I know it._

Akashi didn’t say those words because he refused to admit out loud what Kuroko was sure going to mention.

It wouldn’t be long before _he_ would end up like ‘Mibuchi-san.’

He stood against the door ‘till when he heard Kuroko leaving to go to his own bedroom, and even after that he just slipped down and sat on the floor, crushing curses against his clenched teeth.

 

 

When light slipped through the curtain he had forgotten to close properly the night before, Akashi woke up still on the floor and still against the door, but with a brand new pain in his neck from his awful posture.

He sighed, and his nostrils tingled a bit at the scent of satiated foreign omega. Something in the depths of his mind bubbled for a second, but it was far too easy to ignore it. Akashi’s hatred for this place was enough to kill any instinctual possessiveness of the same.

He got up on his feet slowly, feeling cold and stiff. He was half tempted to take a shower to loosen his muscles, but some bits from the night before were buzzing in his brain, not to mention the main issue of heat that he may have underestimated a bit, and he felt the need to investigate.

He stiffened when he heard steps on the corridor, but Kuroko apparently didn’t want to wake him up because his walk became lighter in front of his door and then resumed its usual pace when descending the stairs.

 

 

Kuroko almost sighed in relief when he reached the kitchen. 

The facts from last night had left him tired and restless, and after the worry for Mibuchi had come the same emotion for Akashi. With what he knew about him, seeing the state the other omega was in when Chihiro had brought him in must have been awful. Akashi’s face hadn’t shown any of that, but Kuroko was sure he was paler, up in his room and with his eyes focused on Mibuchi.

“It’s one problem after the other…” he muttered lowly as he started boiling water for breakfast.

Since he wasn’t stupid enough to leave Mayuzumi, his mate in heat and Akashi alone in the house to go to Maji and get his favorite milkshake, he wanted at least the most relaxing tea they had.

He was stretching on his tiptoes to grab his mug when heavy steps made him turn.

“How is Mibuchi-san?” he asked, ignoring the fact that his cousin himself was looking more dead than alive.

“Asleep,” Mayuzumi grunted, grabbing a tray from above the fridge and grumpily setting up a breakfast for two. “Yesterday was hell for him.”

Kuroko only hummed, not wanting to get deeper in the topic. First, Akashi could hear them; second, he could tell.

“And you were so merciful to relieve his suffering?” Kuroko stiffened for a second at the poisonous voice that reached the both of them, but he was still fast enough to turn and grab his cousin’s arm before the other attacked. It didn’t stop Chihiro from hissing at Akashi, who in return just kept on glaring, fists clenched. “How _generous_ of you.”

“You-”

“Mayuzumi-kun, Mibuchi-san will need you by his side when he wakes up,” Kuroko intervened, not letting the other go but moving his eyes to Seijuro.

The omega was firmly planted on the doorstep of the kitchen, wearing jeans and a white shirt that had been buttoned up to his very throat, and even if he clearly was aware of how dangerous an alpha could be when around their mate in heat, he didn’t look ready to step down anytime soon.

Mayuzumi clicked his tongue, but shook Tetsuya’s arm off of him and turned back to the fridge – to pick cherry yogurt, Kuroko knew, because Mibuchi loved it and nobody else ate it in the house, but they somehow always have some – but he never took his eyes off Akashi who continued to hold his gaze.

“You’re the lowest,” he also dared to hiss, but this time Chihiro didn’t need Kuroko’s voice to ignore the omega.

A faint “Chihi?” from the corridor, so faint he doubted the others had heard it, and he was already slipping out the room, not denying himself the pleasure of bumping into Akashi’s shoulder.

Seijuro was expecting the gesture and managed not to lose his balance. He would have normally hissed something at Mayuzumi for that, but he knew he had already pushed his luck maybe too much.

He turned only when he heard a low sigh.

“He’s really tense after yesterday,” Kuroko said as soon as he met the other’s eyes. “It would be advisable to leave him alone.”

“As he refuses to do with me on a regular basis?” Akashi retorted, but then he made another disgusted face looking at the door of Chihiro’s chambers.

Kuroko could imagine what he was thinking.

“That’s not how it is,” he whispered, and Akashi turned to glare at him, but he didn’t step back. “Mayuzumi-kun is really fond of his mate, and Mibuchi-san is a very nice person. They complete each other quite well, and their bond is happy and _consensual_.”

Seijuro highly doubted that. Mayuzumi was only fond of those low-rate books he used to bring to school.

Kuroko was pouring hot water in two cups, and Akashi clicked his tongue but moved to sit at the other side of the table, still looking extremely wary. Despite that, it was clear that something was making him restless and,

Tetsuya sat and waited patiently for him to tell his thoughts.

Akashi cleared his throat before asking, but when he spoke, he showed no hesitation.

“Is this Mibuchi person all right?”

That was a surprise, but Kuroko didn’t show it.

“He is now, I hope,” he answered tentatively. “He managed to listen to Chihiro and lock himself in a bathroom stall. There were a man and a woman who tried to force the door open when we got there, but they both ran away when Mayuzumi almost ripped an arm off the man. This was luckily just a bad scare.”

_Luckily._ Akashi ran the word through his mind. Nobody had said _luckily_ when Momoi had growled against every alpha approaching him when he had presented, not even his father. He was too busy being furious for his son was bringing shame on the family name.

He sipped on his tea, and Kuroko lowered his eyes on his cup, too. Akashi stared at him, wondering what he was waiting for.

“Akashi-kun.” Seijuro stiffened, his hands grabbing the cup firmly. He could use that, it was ceramic, the tea inside was still burning hot. It would hurt. “The reason Mibuchi-san’s heats are so irregular is that…” Kuroko bit his lip, hesitant. “He is an early bloomer. He presented very young, and that…compromised his body, in a way.”

Akashi froze. Kuroko could see it clearly, and he bit his tongue for a second, but he couldn’t keep that from him. He wanted to postpone the talk about his first heat in the new situation to another moment, even more after talking to Momoi, but he realized that it wasn’t fair. Akashi needed to know, to be prepared.

“Akashi-kun.” He waited for the other to meet his eyes. “The usual time for an omega to present is from the age of thirteen to sixteen. The further from this period they present, the higher are the chances for them to have an irregular cycle of heats. Mibuchi-san was early, but from what I know…” he hesitated, just a second, “you were pretty far from that span, too.”

“I presented at eighteen,” Akashi hissed, laying his cup down a bit too much forcefully and getting up to his feet, “and I don’t know about the regularity of my heats. I am done eating.”

“Akashi-kun!” Kuroko tried to call, but Seijuro ignored him and left without turning back. He slammed his door loudly enough for Tetsuya to hear him, and the alpha slumped back in his seat.

That was bad.

 

 

Akashi was careful to slam the door the loudest he could, and he wished Chihiro slammed his head somewhere or fell from the bed from the surprise. 

Since the door couldn’t be locked, he grabbed the chair from his desk and dragged it all the way to the door, then stuck it under the handle. He kicked the wall, just because.

A chance of irregular heats was just normally a sentence to confinement, and Kuroko was trying to get there, Akashi knew it. Since there was no way to guess when his heat would come, and he hadn’t had a single one yet, he would be surely locked in, just as his father wanted, and every request of going outside would be dismissed as _dangerous_.

He wondered if making him see Mibuchi in those conditions had been premeditated. Done on purpose just to let him know what he risked. Mayuzumi looked like someone who would throw his mate into such a situation just to scare him, but Akashi was honest enough with himself to say he wasn’t exactly unbiased when it came to that man.

Rage burning inside, he punched the desk, and a low sound of tinkling things made him look down.

The Shogi board stood there, helpless, and Akashi resented it, with his whole being, just for who had brought it to him. He hated it, for it was _important_ to him. It brought back a lot of memories, and yet it was _tainted_.

Akashi shoved it on the ground with a swing of his arm, roaring, and watched as the pieces flew around just to lay on the floor lifelessly. He hated them. He hated everything, he hated the man downstairs, he hated his father, he hated his body, he hated just everyone!

_No._

He froze for a second, because what he just thought hit him like a train at full speed with the knowledge that he had already felt like this once, had already knocked a board to the floor before jumping out a window, climbing down a tree, slipping in the garage and ‘stealing’ one of his family’s cars to reach a café to meet with…

_Momoi._

He turned, reaching the window in a dazed hurry, and this time when he looked outside, the jump didn’t seem that high after all. If he tied the blanket to one of the curtains, as cliché as it would be, he could lower it just short of two or three steps, and with the snow it would probably only hurt a little. He had taken the SIM for all the other contacts, but he knew Momoi’s by memory, and he had kept some cash hidden in the inner pocket of his shirt before giving his wallet to his father. It was just a handful of coins, but enough to pay for a bus ticket and a call from a public phone.

_It will work just fine_ , he thought while pulling the blanket from his bed. _Kuroko sent away all the alphas in the security staff because of Mibuchi, and their replacements won’t be here ‘till midday._

It was his best chance to escape, and thus he stopped for a moment.

He knew he wouldn’t go far. He didn’t have that big of a plan, just reaching Momoi and then…nothing. He had little money, and this route of escape would be surely cut off after this attempt. He wondered briefly if it was worth spoiling it, but then he shook his head. The gap in the security was a once in a lifetime piece of luck, just like Chihiro being too busy to keep track of him, so it wasn’t like he was wasting anything. He had left some money to Momoi when he had been forced to retire from school after his presenting. He would ask her to bring him some, and if it wasn’t much, he might be able to hide it from Kuroko even if he were to search his room.

He opened the window and checked to make sure none of the guards were turned toward the house, but they were all checking the street, not expecting an evasion. The sheets were cold, and the winter air made his fingers burn painfully, but he bit his lower lip, grabbed firmly, and swung a leg outside the window.

 

 

“You didn’t hear him!”

“I heard him quite well actually. Spitting at you for taking advantage of me…” Mayuzumi was trying really hard to hold onto his fury against that little shitty brat, but it was difficult with Reo’s hands in his hair and legs around his waist. “You should be glad he tried to defend me even if we’ve never met.”

“That’s not his job to do,” he grunted, biting in childish offense at his lover’s belly, slightly above the navel, his hands roaming over his hips but carefully. “I am here for that, and he should just…!” He bit his tongue.

Reo’s eyes, beautiful green eyes, looked at him from the mess they had made of their bed, and even if he was still burning up in heat, all sweaty and trembling, he managed a smile as he gently forced his alpha to detach from his skin enough to meet his gaze.

“He should just _what_? Shut up and serve your cousin?” Mibuchi hadn’t sounded offended or belligerent, but still Chihiro didn’t answer that. He was preceded anyway. “Kuroko-chan wouldn’t want it even if this little ‘shitty brat’ was dying to do so. That’s not how he is, and you know it better than anybody else.”

Mayuzumi had always been childish, sassy, and more often than not, a very annoying person. He was conscious of that, and it was a part of him he was not going to change anytime soon. In fact, he pushed deeper into his mate, effectively distracting him from the topic and ripping a low moan out of him.

He was so good he managed to distract himself, too, and as he watched Reo biting his lower lip trying to restrain his sounds, hands clutching on the sheets, he thought back at how he had found him, crunched on the floor of the bathroom stall, too dizzy by the heat to even walk properly, scared of the two alphas that had been chasing him.

He shouldn’t have listened to Tetsuya, once again. He should have ripped a limb or two off of those bastards, just to make sure the message came across. But not for his peaceful hippie cousin, not for that idiot who kept on saying it wasn’t really their fault but of the hormones, of biology, of nature.

_Fuck them all!_ he mentally hissed as he bent to kiss the breath out of his lover. He would have fought those and everything else that tried to touch his lover, no matter if it was material or spiritually superior or whatever the fuck was stupid enough to try.

Reo clung to him.

 

 

Mayuzumi and Mibuchi indeed were discrete. Chihiro always was, by nature, while his mate had some sort of prudery that turned his extremely solar personality into quiet lovely whispers when in the bedroom, so it was hardly like anybody was home in the big mansion. 

Kuroko wandered through the rooms caressing books, looking out windows. He felt like a lonely ghost, yet quite ironically he felt also as if he was the one being haunted. Haunted by the thought of Akashi.

Eighteen was an extremely late age to present. And beside the risks of abnormalities in his cycle, which was definitely high, it also meant Akashi was practically an adult when his world had been turned upside down. He had grown up his whole life expecting to be an alpha and then… He was probably thinking about college, planning his future, talking about degrees and jobs and houses. He had projects that were probably more practical than being an astronaut or a prince or a cowboy or whatever. Maybe he had already applied for some universities; maybe he had been scouted. He was smart enough to think it was the case. He had a friend he must have cared for deeply to run from home the day of his mate’s arrival to meet her.

How hard must it have been to see everything crumble down in a moment? The second before he had a bright future ahead, and the next one he was being sold off to a stranger to not tarnish the family name with his whole essence.

Kuroko stopped in his tracks when he found himself at the bottom of the stairs that led to Akashi’s room.

_“Treat him like a person,”_ Momoi had told him, but Kuroko was starting to realize it would be hard when the whole rest of the world was fighting so hard to push into his head that he wasn’t.

He walked the steps without knowing what he was going to say, but feeling clearly that he couldn’t let things stay as they were. Akashi had been shaken by the whole ordeal, and Kuroko might or might not become his mate, but he had become his alpha the moment he had signed those damn papers, and his duty was to protect and reassure his omega.

He took a deep breath and knocked.


	5. Chapter 5

 

 

**CHAPTER FIVE**

 

When Akashi left Momoi’s home, he almost felt more unsettled than during the journey there. The sun passed below the horizon hours ago, and the chill of winter bit through his clothing to the marrow of his bones. Momoi had offered him a coat for the trip home, but he denied her and not only to keep Kuroko from smelling another alpha on him.

He hoped the cold would help him focus and maybe sort through his thoughts. He needed that right now.

After all, his escapade had not quite gone as he’d imagined.

Leaving Kuroko’s mansion went smoothly enough. He slipped by the beta security without issue, and he made a call at the first public phone to order a cab. He offered Momoi’s address with ease, and he walked up to her door within the hour.

The moment she answered the door, her eyes went wide in surprise and he found himself embraced in a warm hug. After a moment, he had his arms wrapped around her in return. 

“Seijuro,” she’d murmured into him, and Akashi let her familiar scent wash over him, cleaning away all the traces of Kuroko’s and Mayuzumi’s, bathing him in the shooting taste of ‘home’. How he’d missed her. His best friend and his trusted confidante.

She invited him inside immediately, and Akashi gave her a quick summary of everything that had happened during their time apart. He glossed over some of the more intense parts of his confrontations with Mayuzumi, but he told everything including his speculations over the shogi board and how Kuroko discovered his birthday.

Momoi shifted uncomfortably at that part, yet she still smiled softly as if pleased. When Akashi asked her about that, she only shrugged. “At least he’s showing that he cares,” she’d said.

“Or he’s hoping I will let my guard down,” Akashi had huffed.

Momoi frowned then, and Akashi regarded her suspiciously. The last time he saw his beloved childhood friend, she had trembled with as much fury and distress as him. She, too, hated the idea of Kuroko whisking him away as if he was nothing more than an object to be purchased. Now, however, she seemed only curious about his stay there.

What caused this change? He wasn’t necessarily angry. Momoi still offered sympathy, and she clearly despised how Mayzumi had treated him. Yet when he spoke of Kuroko’s kinder actions, she did not lose that affectionately satisfied expression.

Though Akashi originally sought out Momoi for some sort of clarification, he only felt more confused as their time together reached a close.

“Chihiro has a mate.” He blurted out. Satsuki’s eyes widened, her relaxed pose tensing at the blow she was surely seeing coming, “He got into heat yesterday. They had to rescue him before some random alphas assaulted him at the train station.”

It was heavy, so heavy, the silence that fell on them. Realization hit Momoi maybe just as hard as it hit Akashi and he felt weirdly comforted by the lost and pained look in her eyes. It was probably unfair of him, but he had thought for a moment she wouldn’t see, with her alpha eyes, the same reality he was facing. In retrospective, he should have known better.

“Seijuro…”

“Kuroko is just waiting for me to get into heat and beg him to fuck me for days straight.” Akashi’s hands clenched into fists as his face twisted into a combative expression, “Like I will ever.”

No answer came and Seijuro was surprised, even more when he looked at Momoi and found her biting her lower lip.

“Satsuki?” he asked, but she almost cut him off as she suddenly met his gaze and blurted how: “Are you sure about that?”

He hadn’t answered, too surprised by her question.

Akashi had not dared stay long, not with the chance of being caught there and putting Momoi in danger of charge of sheltering a fugitive unmated Omega. So he had hugged Momoi goodbye with a desperation he had not known he possessed. She gave him the money he needed and promised him they would meet again soon, but Akashi did not know how she planned to keep her word. His heart lurched uncomfortably as he walked away.

The cold did not help his thinking as much as he’d hoped. He still didn’t know what to think of Momoi’s change in behavior. He never doubted that she still held his best interests in mind, but why did those interests suddenly change for her?

Akashi called another taxi, but he had the car drop him off a street away from Kuroko’s mansion to walk the rest of the way. He didn’t want the headlights of the vehicle to give him away when he had been successful so far. However, as he drew closer to the mansion, he noticed strange activity for the small hours of morning.

Black cars driving up and down the streets, large figures rustling through the bushes, flashlights shining rays of illumination. Akashi froze but quickly darted into the shadows of a two-story house. Patrols… Were they looking for him? Perhaps Kuroko and Mayuzumi had noticed his absence and ordered the betas to search for him. That would explain why they hadn’t picked up his scent as betas had weaker senses than alphas.

Akashi half-considered taking the opportunity to run away forever. If they already knew he was gone, what stopped him from disappearing into the night?

Besides the fact that he was no longer a legal citizen with his own rights of course. He could hold no job without alpha authority, and besides living on Momoi’s couch for the rest of his life, he didn’t really have any other options but to return to his mate’s home.

He clenched his fists in anger.

At least he knew Kuroko would be too soft to punish him. Probably.

Using his senses and his left eye, the eye with the ability to foresee the future to some extent – to better _please_ his alpha –, he reached the mansion without incidence, but he found the sheet that he used to climb down from his window gone. So someone did discover his absence and removed his way back into his room.

Akashi supposed that left only one option. He approached the front door, and when he discovered it unlocked, he walked inside. He managed to take three steps before Kuroko appeared from the parlor, his face paler than normal and his eyes wide.

“Akashi-kun,” he breathed, and was that emotion relief? “I’m so glad you’re safe.”

 

 

When Kuroko knocked on Akashi’s door and received no answer, he hesitated. Twice already, he had pushed open the door anyway, but if he did so now, it would not be an act of ignorance or emergency. Perhaps he should back away and leave the omega alone. He obviously didn’t want his or anyone else’s presence right now. 

Kuroko started to go back down the stairs when he hesitated once again. What if Akashi needed him? Though the odds were slim, he did not want to take the chance. It was slightly possible that the ordeal today unnerved him, and he might want the comfort of someone.

Kuroko was not quite optimistic enough to believe that he was that someone, but the thought alone kept him from returning downstairs.

Reaching a decision within himself, he knocked once more and then pushed the door open. Akashi did not rebuke him, but that was because Akashi was not there at all.

His window was open, and his sheets flapped in the wind outside.

For a moment Kuroko could only stare. The empty room, the open window, the stale scent. The details filtered through his mind, and the puzzle pieces quickly formed an unavoidable solution. Still Kuroko almost felt as if he stared at a painting rather than a moment in life. He saw Akashi just earlier today. Had he already been planning this then?

His stomach lurched, but Kuroko forced himself to focus on what he needed to do now.

He took out his cell phone and found the contact he wanted. When the dialing cut off to a drawled greeting, Kuroko said, “Murasakibara-kun, my mate Akashi Seijuro is missing. Please send a search party for him.”

“ _Uh? Kuro-chin’s mate ran? And nobody noticed?_ ”

“No, we’ve already given the alphas the time off. Please use the betas, but don’t let them hurt Akashi-kun. He’s done nothing wrong, so please treat him gently.”

_“‘Kay, Kuro-chin~.”_

“Bring him back here when you find him. Please, this is urgent. Thank you.”

Kuroko ended the call, and he tried to ignore the fluttery wings of panic that threatened to overcome him. He realized that today’s events likely frightened Akashi, but this was terrible timing. Reo’s situation acted as a terrifying reminder that they did not know when Akashi would also succumb to his heat, but the situation could put him in peril if his body betrayed him while he was outside the house.

He trusted Murasakibara to find him, but the worry did not listen to reason. How long had Akashi been gone? Where would he possibly plan to go?

His father would not take him back, and unmated omegas did not have the means to earn citizenship or find a job on their own. Though Kuroko hated the situation, Akashi was entirely dependent on him for everything.

So why did he run? The omega was smart. He knew all this.

Perhaps he felt that he needed something and planned to return. Kuroko could not imagine what Akashi planned to pursue, but really, he could think of no explanation for any of this. The frantic cycle of thoughts only made him sick, so he forced a calm wave to overtake him.

He escaped to the kitchen and began to make himself a cup of tea. He actually didn’t desire a drink, but the process of setting water to boil and preparing a teabag to steep comforted himself in some way. The familiar gestures coaxed his mind into relaxing. Or at the very least, calming down from the previous panic.

What would he even do when – _if_ – Akashi returned?

Despite what Mayuzui and Akashi tended to believe, Kuroko knew how alphas typically treated their omegas. While Mayuzumi regarded Reo respectfully, Reo also submitted to Mayuzumi. Of his own will, but he still behaved like a proper omega.

Kuroko understood that he went about this mating ritual in a rather unorthodox way, but if he was truly naïve, he would not have taken Akashi in the first place. He wanted to offer the omega a kinder life than what he would have possessed with a more traditional alpha.

Still, was he willing to take his convictions this far? Kuroko realized after his first sip of tea that he was. Worry ate away at his heart, but he found no trace of anger within him. He truly wanted to see Akashi home because he understood all too well what dangers waited outside his mansion, but he had no intentions of punishing Akashi for his actions.

After all, if their positions were reversed, would Kuroko not have tried the exact same thing?

He wondered if he should inform Mayuzumi and Reo of the change of events, but they likely slept away their exhaustion. Also, Kuroko did not particularly want to listen to his cousin’s rants about how he treated his mate once again.

So Kuroko took his cup of tea, and he sat down in the parlor. Despite the softness of the cushioned chair his muscles remained tense. When he finished his tea, he clutched the cup until his knuckles turned white.

Would the betas find him before he found some kind of trouble? Akashi was so smart. What if he already traveled too far away to recover?

Midnight passed with a fleeting wave long ago. Kuroko briefly considered making another cup of tea but found he did not have the motivation to leave the parlor. He occasionally heard one of the betas passing by the house, and he caught the noise of one taking down the sheet Akashi used to escape. Possibly for his scent but possibly to keep him from reentering the house that way.

When Kuroko heard the door open, he nearly broke his teacup. Only a great amount of luck helped him catch the piece of china and place it on an end table before he quickly left the parlor for the doorway, and as soon as his eyes registered familiar scarlet hair, something unraveled with relief in his heart.

“Akashi-kun. I’m so glad you’re safe,” he murmured before he could stop himself.

And perhaps all the stress affected him more than he originally thought because Kuroko stumbled forward – he drank only tea, why did he seem drunk? – and he wrapped his arms around the omega. Akashi stiffened in his hold, but he did not pull away, and Kuroko inhaled deeply. Akashi’s scent washed over him, and only then did his body truly relax.

Akashi was safe. He was here, and he was not dead on railroad tracks or trapped in a bathroom stall. He was safe.

The scent shifted, and Kuroko realized that Akashi was as stressed as Kuroko had been earlier. Then like a jolt of electricity, he pulled away and removed any form of physical contact.

What was he thinking? Akashi likely left specifically to avoid Kuroko’s company. In no universe would Akashi find any sort of comfort in the alpha’s touch, and Kuroko needed to accept that. Immediately.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized.

Akashi still did not react. He regarded Kuroko with clear suspicion, and though his muscles still held an unnatural amount of tension, he at least did not seem like he would bolt at once.

Now that Kuroko breathed a little easier, he gathered a little more from the scent that surrounded him for those precious few seconds, and he recognized the small trace that had nothing to do with Akashi. He only caught the scent once before, but he did not forget such an impression so easily.

Momoi Satsuki. Of course. Kuroko should have guessed that Akashi would go see his only close friend during a time of stress.

“The next time you wish to do this, please let me know,” Kuroko requested politely. “I’ll have a car escort you, and we will not have to bother Murasakibara-kun and the rest of security.”

“Excuse me?” Akashi hissed. They were his first words since he returned to Kuroko’s home, and poison filled every syllable.

“You may go out if that’s what you wish, but you should not be alone,” Kuroko clarified. He hoped that he sounded rational, but Akashi apparently disagreed, for his expression darkened.

“I don’t need a babysitter.”

Kuroko struggled to keep his calm façade. Clearly, he was not as in control of his emotions as usual, and as Akashi apparently escaped the notice of his entire beta security force, he was likely not as collected as normal either. Perhaps now was not the time for this conversation no matter how important it was.

“You must be tired. I can bring you tea if you’d like or even something to eat, but you should get some sleep,” Kuroko offered, and he stepped back. A clear invitation for Akashi to leave and avoid this.

Unfortunately, that meant this was the one time Akashi chose the confrontation.

“So you’re going to coddle me like a small child who cannot handle any sort of heavy discussion,” he snarled, his eyes flashing with fury. He stood just a bit taller than Kuroko, and while the alpha refused to feel intimidated by an omega, he also noticed quite clearly the physical difference between them.

“I only want what’s best for you,” Kuroko attempted, but he barely managed the sentence before Akashi practically roared.

“What’s best for me? You only want to control every aspect of my life!”

This conversation really should have waited until morning. Neither one of them had full control of his emotions, and Kuroko felt himself slipping. The alpha instincts that normally stayed dormant inside of him piqued in interest, and the slightest hint of anger slipped through his normal mask.

“You can ignore the situation as long as you wish, but that will not change the circumstances. Your scent is changing, becoming stronger, and we both know what that means. Deny the truth, but I have to take proper precautions. You need someone with you at all times, at least for now, for your own safety and that of everyone else.”

The words came clipped and icy, but Kuroko grew weary of this game. He sacrificed so much for Akashi, and though he never expected gratitude from the other, he also grew tired of the constant hostility. He never intended to harm or impede him, and he thought Akashi would realize that by now.

Kuroko would never admit to feeling hurt, but here they were.

“You may despise this, but you will want the protection of your alpha when the time comes,” Kuroko almost sighed.

Akashi stayed deadly silent during Kuroko’s tirade, but at the last sentence he took a defiant step forward. “My alpha?” he sneered. “You and I both know that I don’t own you. You own me. You can keep up this joke that you’ll treat me like a person, but if what you say is true, that is soon going to change.”

“Why are you so determined to see me as your enemy? Have I ever hurt you in any way?” Kuroko murmured, and perhaps his original plan of hiding his hurt ended quicker than he thought.

Something flashed across Akashi’s face, but his usual expression of anger and determination soon replaced any vulnerability he might have glimpsed. “I am not such a fool that I would trust the actions of someone with a position of power over me,” he dismissed.

“Then you refuse to reevaluate your initial presumption?” Kuroko challenged.

“I refuse to bow down to manipulations,” Akashi corrected.

Fiery red eyes met icy blue, and the tension between them heightened to nearly unbearable levels. The omega refused to back down, and though Kuroko normally stepped away from situations like this to find a calm and beneficial solution, his emotions tore at him from the inside. Was he so selfish to hope for a little relief from Akashi?

“Kuroko? What’s happening?”

Just like that, Kuroko regretted everything. He shouldn’t have let his feelings interfere, and he should have ushered Akashi into his bedroom for the night. If he had compartmentalized his emotions from the start, he would not be listening to Mayuzumi stomping into the room.

“What are you two doing up?” his cousin demanded. He wore pajama pants, but his bare chest clearly showed that he had been sleeping before their voices must have woken him. The purplish and red marks on his chest and shoulders did little to ease the tension in Akashi’s body.

“Mayuzumi-kun, please return to Mibuchi-kun. We were just going to bed,” Kuroko said.

Akashi glared at the both of them, but he surprisingly stayed silent. Perhaps even he realized that it would be best to avoid this confrontation with Mayuzumi. If his cousin discovered that Akashi had run away, the older alpha would not be so inclined to let the omega go free without some sort of punishment. Kuroko wouldn't let him, of course, and he was the only one with rights to claim over Seijuro, but their relationship was already strained as it was.

“It’s late. Is he causing you trouble?” Mayuzumi said.

Kuroko pointedly shook his head. “We should all go to sleep,” he insisted.

Mayuzumi clearly wanted to argue more, but Kuroko straightened his stance enough to show that he did not want to argue this point. Besides, as Mayuzumi’s mate currently waited for him in his bedroom, he probably would rather return there than debate the same argument again. He glared once more at Akashi and then left the room to go back to his own.

Kuroko breathed a little easier when only he and Akashi stood together again, but the tension still resided between them. Suddenly weary and exhausted, the alpha sighed.

“I need to call security to end the search. You should go to bed,” he advised.

Akashi raised a single eyebrow as if he could not believe the other would release him so lightly, but Kuroko no longer possessed the energy to pursue this topic any further. He doubted they would reach any sort of agreement anyway.

Rather than wait for Akashi to make a move, Kuroko pulled out his cell phone and walked to the parlor. He quickly dialed Murasakibara and told him that Akashi was found and that the security personnel could return to their ordinary patrols.

Murasakibara huffed lazily, but he agreed to Kuroko’s orders.

When the young alpha emerged from the parlor, he found Akashi gone. He slowly walked up the stairs, and he smelled Akashi’s scent, fresh and strong this time, through his bedroom door. Kuroko passed by and shut his bedroom door behind him.

Mibuchi was safe, Akashi was safe, and Mayzumi was safe. Kuroko realized that he needed to address the problem of Akashi’s heat soon, but at the very least, he could take this one night for himself. All he wanted was some sleep and peace.

He crawled into his bed and let himself drift.

 

 

Kuroko was avoiding him. 

Akashi did not mind this of course. It was simply a fact that he observed, and with as little as he had to do in this house, his thoughts tended to revolve around this new development. After all, the last time they spoke, Kuroko claimed that Akashi would need him soon, yet he did everything in his power to stay out of Akashi’s reach.

Then again, Akashi supposed that conversation had ended in a clear disaster. He managed to invoke anger even in the famously apathetic Kuroko Tetsuya, and that damned Mayuzumi had to make an appearance as well.

At least Kuroko sent him away as quickly as possible, but Akashi had still seethed at seeing the alpha there, bare-chested and basking in his latest conquest with his poor mate. The bastard.

The events that happened afterward hadn’t made much sense though. After Kuroko fretted and hugged him of all things, he’d lectured about needing a babysitter to go anywhere because his scent was stronger lately, and he was right when he said that they both knew what that meant. He’d also hinted around to when Akashi would need him, and even if Kuroko claimed otherwise, Akashi knew what that meant, too.

Kuroko, sweet and innocent as he seemed, would take advantage of him as soon as his heat hit him.

However, just as Akashi thought Kuroko would order him into submission, Mayuzumi broke through their conversation, and Kuroko seemed to lose all will to continue the conversation. He’d made an excuse about making a phone call and disappeared into the room with all the bookshelves.

When Kuroko had not returned immediately to continue the lecture, Akashi took the opportunity to disappear into his own bedroom, but he had not dared relax until Kuroko walked past him toward his own room.

After his visit with Momoi and avoiding the security betas and then finally his confrontation with Kuroko, Akashi was absolutely exhausted. Still, even when he laid beneath the blankets of his bed, his mind kept up a frantic energy that prevented sleep. He still didn’t quite know how to interpret anything, and how Momoi acted during their visit still bothered him. He felt as if he was missing something important, and he was not familiar with such a sensation at all.

He wanted to hit something, but eventually, sleep overtook him instead.

He noticed Kuroko avoiding him the very next morning.

Akashi stayed in his room for as long as possible, but when he finally ventured into the kitchen, there was no sign of life despite the time being ten in the morning. Rather, he found a plate of eggs and sausage in the microwave and a note on the table.

_**"Mayuzumi-kun and Mibuchi-kun will stay in their home for the next week. I’m working in my study if you need me. – Kuroko Tetsuya"** _

That was Akashi’s first clue. He heated up his breakfast and ate in the kitchen. He spent the morning and most of the afternoon reading the sequel for which he went through so much suffering. When he went down to the kitchen again, he caught the scent of Kuroko’s recent passing, but the alpha must have eaten and returned to his study immediately.

This continued for three days.

Akashi occasionally glimpsed Kuroko when he retrieved a book from one of the many bookshelves or when he grabbed food from the kitchen. However, when they did cross paths, Kuroko spoke quietly and politely before he disappeared again.

Akashi almost felt as if he lived alone, and he should have been thrilled.

He had gotten away with visiting Momoi. He did not have Mayuzumi’s presence looming over him at every hour in the day. His alpha wasn’t bothering him, avoiding him even.

He read books and played shogi with himself by remembering games he had watched in the past. He should have been happy. Or at least satisfied that he had gotten some sort of point across to his alpha.

Instead, a buzzing energy itched beneath his skin, and no matter what Akashi did, he felt uncomfortable. This in itself was not unusual as he had never completely felt as if he could relax in this foreign house, but now the feeling represented something worse.

He didn’t understand where he stood with Kuroko, especially after the way their last conversation had ended. Akashi wasn’t sure how to interpret anything anymore, and that angered at him as much as it bothered him deep inside.

By the end of the third day Akashi resolved to bring an end to this. Despite recent occurrences he was Akashi Seijuro, and he faced problems directly. As soon as he woke the next morning, he planned to seek Kuroko out, and they would discuss some things once and for all.

The night passed quickly, and Akashi woke with sunbeams in his eyes. The itch that had bothered him for the past few days seemed worse, and he shifted uncomfortably beneath his blankets. Then he kicked them off.

Too hot. And itchy. Why was everything uncomfortable?

He dragged himself from the bed, but he still felt heated and like he needed a cold shower even though he had bathed last night. Maybe one more shower wouldn’t hurt, and then he’d find Kuroko.

Akashi made to leave his bedroom, but he stumbled, and a sudden weakness in his legs startled him. He barely managed to keep himself from falling on his face, but he still slid down on his knees by using his bed to help him ease the descent. The itchiness only increased inside him, and his head spun with feverish dizziness.

A slow horror slid through him like a sickness.

He recognized this feeling, and the very thought sent him into a spiral of nightmares and bad memories.

His heat.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is interested, Agap wrote a little "Character Talk" about why Akashi has all the rights to be grumpy: you can find it [here](http://agapantoblu.tumblr.com/post/148353594478/no-one-expected-this-to-be-easy-character-talk).

 

**CHAPTER SIX**

 

It was like water, slipping under the door and flooding the room too fast for him to escape it. 

Kuroko let the pen in his hold fall and brought the hand to his mouth and nose, covering them when Akashi’s scent hit him like a truck, sweet with the tempting fragrance of heat and yet dreading with the meaning it held. His eyes lifted, and for a moment he stared at the door as if he was sure it would slam open under the strength of the smell, but then he realized.

He knocked his chair over in the hurry, but didn’t bother to fix it, and he left the door open as he ran into the corridor.

 

 

Akashi bit his lower lip, desperate to hold back the cry pushing at the bottom of his throat. His right hand was clenched in the sheets that he had accidentally pulled on the floor when he had sunk to his knees, and he was trembling, but his grip was still vicious as if he was trying to choke something. The other arm was around his lower stomach, there where he could feel a pool of some _disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, so disgusting_ , scorching hot fluid collecting. 

He bent forward, his forehead pressing against the floor, and he hissed when the coldness of the marble managed to soothe the hotness in him, even if only for a little bit. He grunted as his insides squeezed and his lower regions started to ache even more, pressing against the textile of his trousers, suffocating.

Even the marble under his face was too hot now, and his grip on the sheets loosened instinctively, letting his whole body slip against the tiles. He searched for the coldness, pressing against it as the temperature in him kept on rising, unbearable.

“Akashi-kun?! Akashi-kun, can you hear me?!”

Akashi stiffened, eyes widening, when he heard Kuroko’s voice outside his room. The man was knocking loudly against his door, so loud the chair that was stuck under the handle trembled continuously.

_He’s getting in!_

Seijuro tried to push himself up on his hands, but his arms trembled so much he fell almost immediately, and his face hit the floor, drawing a pained sound out of his throat. His body had a spasm at the sudden motion, and his legs seemed to part almost on their own, a knee moving upward as the inside of his skin let flames run loose. He tried again to force himself up, but his palms were sweaty and slid without sustaining him.

“Akashi-kun!”

He clenched his teeth, eyes falling closed as helplessness pinned him to the floor together with the burning pain inside him and the prickling rage behind his locked down eyelids. He didn’t even have the strength to fist his hands; his mind was a blurred hell of images that both soothed his body and disgusted his mind.

And it didn’t even matter because Kuroko was getting in for sure. The chair wouldn’t hold much longer.

He cursed himself for underestimating the harshness of the heat. This was the time to run, but he couldn’t. He was forced to stay and to wait, and now he was trapped within, and Kuroko would soon break past his last defense.

Akashi managed to roll on a side, clutching his arms around his lower belly, there where the hot liquid boiling him was twirling, and he curled up with his knees bent to his chest. It wasn’t even a logical choice; he felt like the frozen battlefield for his fighting instincts. His body had apparently thought that curling up in a ball was the best way to protect him from what was going to happen, and Akashi would have laughed at the thought if he hadn’t been so busy biting his tongue to keep silent as he tried to decipher the sounds from his room door.

Too bad something within his mind was screaming _so_ loud.

 

 

Kuroko waited, his hand still laying palm flat on the door, his eyes staring at it, almost trying to look through it, searching for an answer within the lines of the wood. He could hear, his senses sharpened by the scent of the omega in heat, a labored breathing from the inside, at least reassuring him that Akashi was still there, but also a low groaning, filled with pain.

For a moment, Kuroko’s heart skipped a beat in fear.

He had a second, one that flashed before his eyes clear as day, perfect, in which he thought of opening the door by force, of running in and to his mate, but he crushed the picture out of sheer will. Before he even realized, he had his phone in his hand, and Murasakibara’s number was being dialed.

_“Uh? Kuro-chin, what is happening? Some sentinels are acting weird… can I crush them?”_

“Send them away.” Kuroko felt a cold shiver down his spine at his friend’s words, but kept his voice cold and low to prevent Akashi from hearing the tense situation or hearing him panicking, “Send all of those who act weirdly and all the alphas out of the mansion. Ask for substitutive betas, and they have to be here immediately.”

_“What? But that’s a pain, Kuro-chin. Why sh-…?”_

“Akashi-kun is in heat, Murasakibara-kun,” he almost hissed, his free hand clenched in a fist at his friend’s usual laziness. “We need…”

He stopped when he heard a loud sound and then a pained scream from the other side of the line, but before he could worry, the familiar munching sound that accompanied the beta chief of his security resumed.

_“On my way, Kuro-chin,”_ Murasakibara said, as if it wasn’t important. _“I’ll crush them if they don’t leave.”_

Murasakibara was lazy and a glutton and a lot of other things, but Kuroko knew he could always count on him when it came down to protecting someone he cared for.

“Thank you,” he said, but to the already mute line.

He put the phone back again, but his eyes were suddenly back on the door, and the little relief he had felt knowing Murasakibara would take care of the alphas around the house vanished as another wave of pheromones invaded him.

_It is closing in on him…_ Kuroko bit his lip. Heat usually lasted around a week, and it was the time when the omega was fertile and ready to conceive a child. Even if it seemed to start quite abruptly with the rush of hotness and need and pheromones, in truth it also grew during the heat and reached its climax around the third or fourth day before lowering a bit and then ending suddenly. Akashi was feeling bad now, but it was only bound to grow worse, and by the third day…

He was regretting, oh he was regretting so much losing his cool the last time and avoiding Akashi ever since. To Seijuro he was probably still the alpha who had fought with him, tried to lock him up using his heat as an excuse, ready to jump on him as soon as the situation would allow.

_I should have talked to him!_ He was furious with himself, but forced all of his self-control on the task of turning all that anger down. The last thing he needed was Akashi to think he was belligerent and dangerous in any way.

Instead, he closed his eyes and moved his consciousness to the most animalistic part of him. Something stirred, excited by the scent, but Kuroko suppressed it and focused on the worry he felt for his mate, all alone through the pain of an unattended heat.

“Akashi-kun?” he tried again, bringing his mouth close to the door and talking clearly but not too loudly, trying to sound reassuring and firm, but not menacing in any way. “Akashi-kun?”

 

 

Akashi grunted something, a curse that broke against a choked sob in his throat, when Kuroko’s voice came back to him after a while. He tried to ignore it, curling even more and pushing with his arms against his belly with all the strength he could muster, almost wishing to squeeze and crush every organ in there, trying to make the pool of hotness explode and die.

And he was breathing through his nose, his lips locked to suffocate any sound proof of weakness, so when it came, it hit him straight in the center of his brain and made the hotness in his lower regions twirl and boil even more.

Bookshelves and tea and vanilla. A soft scent of refreshing vanilla.

It didn’t come strong or intruding, but carefully light, faint enough to be there but not to impose. It was soothing, comforting in a way as Akashi filled his nostrils with it, and it seemed gentle somehow. He didn’t want to, his pride was still kicking somewhere inside his burning mind, but that scent was _completely empty_ of any trace of a sexual interest, and so he found himself slightly relying on it to soothe the pain.

His body relaxed a little, pain subduing lightly, as the alpha scent reached his brain, deluding it into thinking relief was coming, but at the same time the hotness inside his belly shifted even further south, and his legs had another spasm, trying to stretch and spread. He curled up more.

_Breath, Seijuro_ , he ordered himself, forcing his mouth open to take as much cold air as he could as he tried to think. There was nobody there, this time; there was no _Momoi_ , this time. She had been the only one to help him last time, but this time he had been bought. He had someone who had paid for rights to claim him. Nobody cared if an omega’s human rights were denied, not if it was their alpha who took them from him, so he was on his own fighting this. _Breath. Think. Get out of this._

“Akashi-kun? Please, answer me if you can!”

He managed to open only one of his eyes, the left one, the one closer the floor ‘cause light seemed so bright and hurting, but it was enough. The chair was stable now, meaning that for some weird reason Kuroko wasn’t pushing; there was commotion coming from outside the window, so that route was not an option; there was a glass of water on his bedtime table. Kuroko wanted an answer, right?

It took all he had to move one of his legs from the curled position, and the friction made him whimper for a second at the mixture of pleasure and disgust that filled him, but he kept on breathing through his mouth as he aimed. When he kicked the bedside table, the glass was the first thing to fall, and even if the liquid barely hit his outstretched leg and the higher part of his thighs, the feeling of coldness was enough to make Akashi hiss in relief for a moment.

He curled back again, trying to get the precious drops to the hottest part of him, and so busy he almost forgot that the glass, falling, had shattered. He remembered it strongly when he heard Kuroko calling his name louder.

“Akashi-kun?!” He seemed worried, didn’t he? But Akashi wouldn’t fall for that. He had been raised to be an alpha his whole life, so he knew how those people thought. For Kuroko, he was just a good fuck, a naturally lubricated and heated up piece of property he could use whenever he wanted, and that coincidentally would probably give him all the puppies he wanted if he screwed him right now.

“Get lost!” he hissed as his body refused even the simple _idea_ of the alpha leaving him, but Akashi bit his tongue again and pressed his forehead against the floor. He managed to roll on his knees this time, a bit used to the boiling feeling and revived by the cold water.

He wished for a cold shower so much. It would probably help him more than rolling all around the floor to search for cold areas, but he knew that was impossible. His bathroom was next door to his room, after all; he would have to take down his only defense and go out there where Kuroko was waiting for him. He was not going to face that.

As Kuroko kept on calling his name, he closed his eyes and burned with clenched teeth.

 

 

Kuroko didn’t leave Akashi’s door. He stood there, marching in front of it or laying his hands flat against the door or sitting beside it, focused only on sending his scent in, trying to trick the omega’s body into thinking the sexual relief it was craving would come soon.

After Akashi’s outburst, two words filled with rage, he had stopped calling him, but time was only making him more restless, even if he tried not to let it show. He realized he had failed when he saw Murasakibara’s huge form climbing the stairs to reach him.

Murasakibara Atsushi was the tallest person Kuroko had ever met, almost twice his height, but he wasn’t an alpha, surprisingly. He had purple hair to his shoulders and dull purple eyes, and the tall beta was always armed with a snack in his hand whenever he was seen. He often acted lazy and slowly, childishly sometimes, but this time he was carrying a tray with two slices of cake and two cups of tea.

Kuroko couldn’t help but smile at the naivety of the gesture, as if cake could solve everything Akashi was going through, but he thanked him sincerely, sitting on the floor, as the other placed the tray before him.

“Kuro-chin looks ill,” Murasakibara commented, sitting on his heels to look at his boss. Kuroko didn’t answer, but he still shook his head when the beta tried to ruffle his hair, something he really hated. The other ignored the gesture. “When will Kuro-chin’s mate come out?”

Kuroko’s eyes closed.

“I don’t know, Murasakibara-kun. Akashi-kun doesn’t want to.”

“But Aka-chin can’t stay in there for the whole heat, right?” Atsushi frowned, clearly offended by the difficult reasoning he was trying to solve. “Aka-chin needs to eat and drink.”

 

 

Akashi was stubborn, and that was killing Kuroko. He waited the whole day before trying again and then the whole night, after the second rejection, before attempting to call Akashi’s name. 

By the second day, Kuroko could already only hear panting and occasional whimpers, and Seijuro’s scent grew thick enough for Murasakibara to smell it even with his beta senses, usually indifferent. The alpha tried some more that day, calling out the other’s name and asking for any little thing he could use to help the other, but went ignored completely.

“Aka-chin should drink,” Atsushi said when he brought Kuroko a tray with lunch at midday. He hadn’t been asked to, but the tall man had apparently resigned to the fact that Tetsuya was not going to leave Seijuro anytime soon. “Heats cause dehydration.”

Kuroko knew. He knew it, and it was driving him crazy far more than the scent of the omega.

Once more, he turned to the door and laid his forehead against it, trying to convey his presence to the other. He closed his eyes, unwillingly picturing the scene inside the room, and a shiver went down his spine, for it wasn’t a pleasant view at all.

“Akashi-kun?” he called once more, but this time he ignored the silence he received back. “Akashi-kun, I…” He sighed, trying to even his voice and resume his blank demeanor. “I understand what’s happening, and I want you to know that I will _not_ do anything you don’t want me to.” His eyes opened instinctively. “I know you don’t believe me, but you are safe here. And if you’ll allow me to help, if you _want_ me to help, I will do anything you wish.”

Not ‘need,’ because what he ‘needed’ was sex, and Kuroko wouldn’t do that to him.

 

 

Akashi’s jaw hurt for being clenched for so long, continuously strained, and when he tried to open his mouth to soothe it a bit, his lips broke, opened in cuts that wetted the tip of his tongue with the salty taste of blood. 

His throat hurt, his head hurt, his body was drained of any strength yet kept on burning, and he had exhausted the water to even cry by now. He was still curled up on the floor, in his pajamas soaked in sweat, drowning in his own stench. He wasn’t sure if it was him or if there was an earthquake, he couldn’t tell, and honestly, when he tried to gulp and pain shot to his brain, adding to the thunders running through his nerves, he couldn’t care any less.

Some huge piece of ceiling smashing him sounded darkly tempting, right now.

He hissed when Kuroko’s voice came once more, and it took him a lot to try to get what the man was trying to say and what his words meant. When he managed, he almost laughed, but his insides clenched painfully.

His thoughts were slow and sluggish somehow, as if moving through a thick layer of water, and they didn’t seem to make sense between themselves. They were denying of each other, confusing, unhelpful, and that was the worst because his mind was the only thing Akashi had left for himself, the only weapon they couldn’t take from him.

“Akashi-kun?” Kuroko called once more.

Seijuro ignored him.

 

 

The sun set and rose, and Akashi had no idea what day it was or what was happening or even where he was finding the strength, but he was crawling toward the door. 

Kuroko was outside. Half of his mind knew that. The other half knew that outside there was water, and his body was completely helpless against that need, already stronger than his biology.

It was a struggle to reach the chair, and Akashi grabbed its leg with all the strength he had, but then he stopped for a second.

_Sometimes you need to lose a battle in order to win the war_ , he repeated to himself, trying to push everything else outside his mind, trying to trick himself into thinking the price to pay now wouldn’t have mattered once he was running from this place.

He gritted his teeth and pushed. The chair fell, freeing the doorknob and hitting the floor with a loud crash.

 

 

Kuroko actually jerked when he heard the sound from inside. He ran his hand to the doorknob, and this time, when he pushed it down, it obeyed meekly, the door opening in silence.

For a second, the scent hit him full force, spreading throughout the whole house, and Kuroko froze. Then he saw Akashi.

If glares could kill, Kuroko would have already been buried and forgotten by then.

He kept his blank face despite the whole situation and moved on one knee beside Akashi. He usually wouldn’t have invaded someone else’s personal space that way, so he felt a bit stiff as he placed a hand on the omega’s forehead. It was scorching hot, but Seijuro unconsciously leaned into the cold touch, so he kept it there.

“Akashi-kun, can you hear me? Do you need me to call a doctor?” Kuroko was really trying to keep calm but it was difficult when he had a trembling, sweating and hurting omega to take care of. He had researched everything he could before taking Seijuro in, how heats worked and how to help him through them, but after Momoi’s revelation, more than three quarters of those things had become useless.

He may be panicking a bit on the inside, but he made sure not to show it on the outside.

“Sho-wer.” Akashi’s voice cracked when his body had a spasm, and it was hoarse, but it still came out firm and demanding, as always, and Tetsuya was relieved.

“I’m taking you there. Please, hold on a bit longer.”

Tetsuya had barely turned his head when he was met by the big frame of his security chief.

Murasakabira sat on his heels, looking down on Akashi like a kid would to a newborn puppy. “Can I help, Kuro-chin?”

“Please, help me carry Akashi-kun to the bathtub.” 

“O-kay, Kuro-chin…”

Akashi gasped as he was suddenly taken away from the cold floor, and he almost didn’t hear Kuroko’s quiet scolding “Murasakibara-kun! Be careful!” The air moving around him felt better when they started moving, for it was cold, but the warmth of the beta’s chest against his side felt extremely uncomfortable for both his mind and his body, refusing the beta and longing for an alpha. Relief washed over him when he was laid in the cold marble of the bathtub.

“Akashi-kun, are you still here? Murasakibara-kun, go prepare something light to eat but nutritious, nothing hot, please. Akashi-kun?”

“Noisy…” Seijuro forced his eyes open as he rolled to his side, desperate to press against the coldness the left of his neck, there where he could feel the gland of his scent pulsing and begging to be bitten, pushing him to mate and bond forever.

Kuroko moved some red strands out of his eyes to look at him directly. By doing so, though, his fingers passed close to Akashi’s nose, and the alpha’s scent caused a wave of hotness to hit the omega hard, making him kick unconsciously. A flare sparked in his head as his body reacted painfully at the alpha presence, searching for the relief that could put an end to this whole suffering.

He grunted in pain, and unconsciously he grabbed Kuroko’s arm harshly, putting all his strength in that just to feel it, to know he had something to hold on to.

Freshness hit his neck in a liquid form, and he hissed as he could feel the hotness subdue. He opened his eyes to see Tetsuya moving the head of the shower carefully on his shoulders and then side, uncaring of the arm Seijuro was still holding captive.

Kuroko tried not to look too much as the thin layer of the white t-shirt attached to Akashi’s skin, turning translucent when soaked in water. He started with the torso, then the waist – thanking the gods that Seijuro was wearing black track pants – and finally his legs, carefully cooling down his swelled ankles and wrists in particular before moving back to the neck. Seijuro was still pressing his scent gland against the bathtub, but when he felt the water, he immediately closed his eyes and turned his head, offering it to Kuroko’s eyes.

Tetsuya stared at the little swollen bulge in the pale neck and brushed his fingers against it carefully, ignoring the hand still wrapped around his armpit. Akashi jerked at the touch, unwillingly letting out a soft whimpering.

Kuroko moved the head of the shower and turned the coldest water he could against the gland. With two fingers, as if taking the pulse, he pressed against it heavily, and Akashi kicked again, his body shuddering as it was tricked into thinking mating was going to happen.

The cold and the pressure were enough to trick Seijuro’s exhausted body into relaxing, the muscles losing their stiffness, and soon enough Kuroko could hear Akashi’s breath slowing down a bit, becoming less labored. Carefully, he moved the shower’s head to wet the omega’s hair, a hand protecting his face and running gently through the locks. Finally, the omega went quite limp under the alpha’s touch, his hand leaving Kuroko’s arm alone.

“Kuro-chin, here’s water and some clothes… What about the food?”

Tetsuya turned while unconsciously bringing his fingers back to the gland, pressing again. Murasakibara was on the door with a little bottle of water and a white shirt and a pair of loose pants in his hands. Kuroko took the bottle, but gestured to him to wait for a second.

“Akashi-kun, do you think you can drink a bit?” He tried to keep his voice low and soothing, but still Akashi opened his eyes with some suspect dancing in his dazzled irises. It was amazing he was still that lucid. “It’s only water, I promise.”

“If Aka-chin wants sparkling water, I can get it,” Murasakibara offered hopefully, and Kuroko would have normally been amazed at the lack of usual laziness. Atsushi seemed to have taken a liking at Akashi, even if he had never met him before. Then again, he supposed anyone would feel sympathy for Akashi’s obvious misery.

Seijuro didn’t answer, but when Kuroko turned the water off and took the bottle to lay it on the omega’s lips, he managed to drink some big mouthfuls, easing Tetsuya’s mind a bit. Only a bit.

“Akashi-kun,” he whispered, sounding firm but somehow also a bit unsure. “I need to take off your clothes and change you into dry ones. Are you okay with that?” Akashi stiffened immediately in Kuroko’s hands, and Tetsuya changed his offer just as fast. “I can ask Murasakibara-kun to do it if you’d feel better that way.”

Seijuro seemed to think about it for a while before nodding rigidly. Kuroko gently let go of him to make room for Murasakibara, who knelt beside the bathtub and whispered some low words before moving his hands down to the hem of the omega’s shirt.

Out of respect, Kuroko turned his back to the scene. “I’ll go change the sheets of the bed.”

“I left a tray with some sandwiches on the bedside table, Kuro-chin.” Murasakibara lifted his head to see his boss’ reaction, but Tetsuya had already left.

Seijuro tiredly looked at the door but couldn’t hold his gaze long. His body was slightly more relaxed now, and Kuroko’s leaving had taken away a lot of pressure from his mind. Exhausted, he closed his eyes and passed out.

 

 

Akashi opened his eyes again when he felt his body floating and let out a little satisfied sigh when he was laid on something soft and fresh. A pleasant smell – like vanilla? – filled his nostrils, and someone with very big hands caressed his temple. 

He heard Kuroko call his name a couple of times, and in the end he opened his eyes just to find out he had been brought back to his room. His sight was a bit blurred, but he managed to gulp down the little bits of sandwich that he was being given by the tall purple-haired beta as the alpha kept on massaging his gland, sometimes pinching it a bit to keep up the illusion that he was going to bite it.

Akashi ate almost two whole sandwiches before managing to go back to sleep again, as he hadn’t in the past three days.

 

 

He woke up again in sweat, his body flaring as if furious for the unattended teasing, and Kuroko wrapped him in the sheets before helping Murasakibara to carry him back to the bathroom again.

Again, when he needed to be changed, Tetsuya left the room and let Murasakibara help him while slowly asking him what he wanted to eat, if he liked snacks, that he would bring him a maiubo if he’d like that.

Back in the bedroom Kuroko helped him on another set of sheets, not bothering to place him under them. This time, wet cloths were placed both on his forearms and on his wrists, and Murasakibara kept him up as Tetsuya helped him drink some more. He tried to eat, but ended up throwing up twice. Atsushi tried to offer him a candy, and that was all Akashi managed to stomach before dozing off again.

 

 

He lost track of time.

For as much as he tried to keep lucid, to keep count, he eventually lost sense of what time it was, how much had it been since the beginning, and so on. He could only focus on the routine around him, Murasakibara’s hands undressing and dressing him up again, Kuroko’s touch and scent and his cold yet soft voice chattering lowly to keep his mind busy.

“There’s a third book in the series you were reading recently. If you liked the previous two, you should find this one just as pleasing.”

“Murasakibara-kun never shares his sweets with anybody, even less his maiubo. He must really like you. I’m starting to think his loyalty lies now more with you than with me. You could use his help next time you want to escape, probably. But you had already thought about it, right?”

“Do you like pets, Akashi-kun? My dog is staying with my cousin’s mate now. Mibuchi-san kidnapped him to force Mayuzumi to go back home instead of bothering you. They’ll bring him back here as soon as you feel better.”

“It’s almost finished, Akashi-kun. This is the worst part but just a little bit more. I promise you’re almost there.”

 

 

‘Almost finished’ turned out to be twenty-four hours of pure hell that Akashi spent in the bathtub, Murasakibara and Kuroko not even bothering to carry him back to the bed. All of a sudden, though, in the morning the pain subdued a bit.

The temperature cooled down slowly, and it took it three days to go back to a normal level. His gland sank back within his skin, and his scent became softer. At the eighth day, his heat ended completely, leaving him exhausted on his bed.

The last thing he remembered was Kuroko pulling a blanket to his chin, Murasakibara vanishing outside the room with his empty tray. Then he closed his eyes and finally fell in a deep slumber.


	7. Chapter 7

 

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

 

Waking up felt like entering another world. Or perhaps finally returning to a place Akashi had not inhabited for a long time.

He no longer burned or ached with need, and when he carefully slid his legs over the edge of the bed, none of his limbs trembled. He stood on stable legs, and he ran his fingers through hair untouched by sweat. Even despite his limited diet over the past week, he felt strong and focused, and his mind sped through thoughts unhindered by muddled instinct.

Akashi searched through his drawers for a pair of black pants and a maroon collared shirt. He chose clean socks and underwear and then carried his wares to the bathroom across the hall. When he finally left his bedroom, no one waited for him – neither Kuroko nor Murasakibara, the unusually large beta – and Akashi did not sense anyone nearby.

Nevertheless, he locked the bathroom door behind him, and he took a long, thorough shower. As he washed every stretch of skin, he idly remembered his past experiences in this particular tub. Murasakibara had carried him here, and Kuroko had attentively cooled him with the icy spray.

Akashi may have been delirious during those hellish days, but he remembered almost every moment, particularly the fact that his virginity was still intact.

When he had finally given into his need for water to survive, he had expected that Kuroko would likely take him the moment he removed the barrier of the chair from the door. He had accepted this but chose his survival as priority. Instead, Kuroko had helped him. Cooled his fever the best he could, kept him fed, even given him privacy to change clothes. Akashi never would have expected such consideration from an alpha.

He almost didn’t know what to do with the information.

Akashi switched off the water and dried himself with a towel. Once he dressed, he combed his hair, and when he finally looked into the fog-tinted mirror, he appeared almost normal. Perhaps a little paler and thinner than a week ago, but overall the same Akashi Seijuro from before all this mess.

Akashi was almost certain that would not have been the case if any other alpha than Kuroko Tetsuya had bought him.

The face in the mirror twisted into a pained sneer. While he was thankful that he had not been subjected to the expected torture, he also did not look forward to his next conversation with Kuroko. Omega or not, he was an Akashi, and that included a certain precedence of behavior. He needed to thank Kuroko.

The gratitude was not for refraining from raping him, Akashi insisted to himself. That was a basic human decency. Rather, he needed to thank Kuroko for helping him the best he could. That purple-haired beta, too.

Akashi gave one last lingering look to the omega in the mirror before he unlocked the bathroom door and returned his dirty clothes to his bedroom. He still did not sense or smell anyone on the second floor, so he suspected Kuroko must be downstairs. Akashi briefly considered staying in his room for a little while longer, but he was no coward. He took a deep breath and then descended the stairs in search for the alpha.

Akashi reached the ground floor and inhaled the surrounding scents just in time to sense Mayuzumi a moment before he appeared in rustled pants and a gray cardigan. His lips twisted into a snarl the moment he saw Akashi at the foot of the stairs.

“I don’t appreciate being kicked out, so my cousin can attend to some brat’s needs,” the alpha hissed.

Akashi tensed, and he wondered what Kuroko told him. The smaller alpha didn’t seem the type to divulge much of his intimate life, and Mayuzumi certainly would not take the actual events of the heat kindly. His treatment of his own mate, Reo, showed clearly his views on how the accursed week should go.

Mayuzumi stalked forward, and Akashi fought the urge to step back. The gray-haired alpha stood only a foot away when he inhaled deeply, and his expression darkened.

Whether Kuroko told him or not, he certainly knew now.

“You’re looking nice and healthy for someone apparently untouched,” he growled. “You think you can treat my cousin like a slave because you have a pureblood pedigree? You made him suffer and attend to you while you remain perfectly pure like some old-fashioned maiden?”

“I don’t believe that’s any of your business,” Akashi snapped, his blood boiling in anger.

“You’re an omega, and you’ll stay an omega, how can you not you get that?” Mayuzumi said, stepping closer. He leered over him as his teeth flashed a warning.

“I may be an omega, but that does not put me any lower than you when you behave in such an unbecoming manner,” he challenged.

Mayuzumi’s eyes flashed with fury.

“Tetsuya deserves so much better than you. He should have showed you your place. Maybe I’ll do it for him.”

“I have nothing to fear from you,” Akashi snarled.

Mayuzumi lunged for the omega, but Akashi knew from the moment that the words left his mouth that he would attack. He dodged the strike and grabbed the alpha’s arm. Using Mayuzumi’s strength against him, Akashi twisted his arm and pushed until Mayuzumi fell to his knees.

Absolutely furious now, the alpha’s eyes flashed red, and he might have truly tried to kill Akashi if another alpha had not taken that moment to appear.

“Enough!”

Blue eyes that normally held such compassion and warmth regarded the scene with an unusually icy demeanor as the shortest alpha stood on the doorstep, body still and scent thickening with unspoken threat.

“Akashi-kun, release him. Mayuzumi-kun, step back,” Kuroko ordered coldly, not moving a step closer.

Almost without thinking, Akashi let go of the other’s arm, and Mayuzumi moved five feet away from the omega. They still glowered at each other, but neither made a move to resume the fight physically.

“Thank you for informing me about Nigou, Mayuzumi-kun, but perhaps you should return to your home and bring him here another day. I’m sure Mibuchi-kun misses you and won’t mind keeping the dog for a bit longer,” Kuroko suggested in a way that was not a suggestion at all.

Mayuzumi’s eyes narrowed, and though he glared furiously at Akashi, the look he sent toward Kuroko was almost… betrayed. His muscles tensed for a fight, but his shoulders slumped forward as if already accepting defeat. Akashi would have felt something near pity for him if he were anyone else in the world.

“So you’re going to choose this omega slut over your own cousin?” he hissed.

Seijuro hissed loudly, while Kuroko raised his eyebrows but remained cool and collected. “Excuse me?” His voice held little venom, but coming from him it was almost a declaration of war.

“You’re practically my brother, Tetsuya. We’ve always been that way, but this spoiled brat comes along, and suddenly we’re always fighting. You could have chosen any other omega, and he’d be happy to be your mate, and we’d be fine,” Mayuzumi said, suddenly almost pleading, probably realizing that insulting his cousin’s mate so vulgarly wouldn’t take him anywhere with someone as respectful as Kuroko.

The shortest man gently placed a hand on his cousin’s arm, and his expression softened into something far more recognizable on the mellow alpha’s face. “You know you are dear to me,” he murmured. “But right now, I need to focus on this.”

Mayuzumi bristled, and he nodded jerkily. “Fine,” he snapped. “Why don’t you just call me when you feel that you can fit me in your life again?”

The older alpha stormed from the house and slammed the door behind him, and the moment he left, Kuroko looked as if he wanted to collapse on the floor. The bags beneath his eyes stood out against his pale skin, and Akashi idly thought he appeared like he was the one who went through the accursed heat. Did he sleep at all during that time.

Finally, the man turned to his alpha, addressing him directly despite the exhaustion filling his body.

“Mayuzumi-kun is trying to take care of me… in his own way.”

“Excuse me?” Akashi said, and his words held more sting than he intended.

Kuroko almost winced, but he forced himself to continue, “He’s not as bad as he’s… trying to make you think.”

All thoughts of thanking Kuroko turned to ash in Akashi’s mind. He just barely managed to suppress a growl. “So you agree with him,” he hissed.

“What?” Kuroko said, his head tilting with the question.

“You think yourself kind and sacrificial,” Akashi clarified. “You see yourself as a saint while I am a burden. But I might remind you that while you agreed to this arrangement, I did _not_.”

So this was what Kuroko Tetsuya looked like at his limit. He closed his eyes, and he forced his body to adapt a nonthreatening stance though Akashi still noticed the tension in every muscle. He looked tired before, but now he appeared only a minute away of passing out on the nearest horizontal surface.

“Akashi-kun,” Kuroko sighed, “even alphas were born of omegas’ wombs.”

Kuroko turned to leave the room, but Akashi grabbed his arm before he could take a step. Rather than turn and face the omega, Kuroko stared at the wall in front of him and waited. His shoulders looked so thin that way.

“Perhaps I have been harsh,” Akashi finally said. While part of him wanted to leave now and retreat to his room – admitting his own wrongs had never been easy for him – he forced himself to stay in place. The hurt look on Kuroko’s face before he turned away wounded him deeper than he would have expected, and Akashi resolved to complete what he had set out to do.

“I just wanted to say… thank you for taking care of me these past few days,” Akashi managed, the words strange and awkward in his mouth.

Kuroko stiffened under his hold, and he turned – slowly, oh so slowly – to face Akashi, and his shock was so open on his face, and Akashi almost felt guilty that the alpha considered a show of gratitude from him as something apocalyptic.

“It’s not a big deal. It was the right thing to do. Even if you did not agree to this arrangement, I’m still your mate,” Kuroko insisted, eager in his blank way to grab onto that subtle thread he had been finally given.

“No.” Akashi’s grip tightened around Kuroko’s arm and his eyes darkened, but stood steady, red irises firm and filled with strength. “You’re my _alpha_. It’s different. The only thing required of you then was to take me, and you didn’t. Nobody else would have done the same.”

Kuroko bit his lip, and though he was supposed to be the dominant one, he looked away under the weight of Akashi’s gaze. “Despite popular belief you and I both know that’s not right. You’re still a person. You deserve more than to be used.”

When Kuroko finally met Akashi’s eyes again, something close to hope gleamed in his blue irises. They stared in silence for a long time, and Akashi wondered if pure stubbornness would keep them in this position indefinitely. Then Kuroko’s phone solved that problem for them by ringing and breaking the tense silence.

The moment was so anticlimactic. Kuroko tugged the phone from his pocket and glanced at the screen, and when he registered the name, his expression turned cold and annoyed. He answered the call and said, “Go die, Kise-kun.” He then promptly ended the call.

Akashi blinked.

“Kise-kun is an idiot,” Kuroko explained.

Akashi managed then to hide the greater part of his surprise, but he still raised one eyebrow. While he had slowly learned the slight shifts in mannerisms that revealed Kuroko’s emotions, he had never seen that exact shade of irritation on the alpha’s face before. It was like annoyance, but held also something different, deep at its bottom.

When Kuroko noticed Akashi’s bewilderment, he added, “If it’s truly important, Kise-kun will call a third time.”

_Third time?_

Before Akashi could ask, the phone rang again, and Kuroko ended the call without even glancing at the screen.

The irritation buzzed under Kuroko’s skin like a foreign energy, and Akashi almost wanted to meet the person who could evoke such reactions from the alpha. Almost. He never had the patience for idiots, but as Kuroko grew more and more agitated, he thought he might make an exception.

When the phone rang for a third time, Kuroko muffled a small sigh of defeat. Akashi felt torn between amusement and almost pity as the alpha brought the phone a few inches from his ear and answered the call. Instantly, an endless strain of chatter garbled through the line, and Kuroko winced even as he managed a few short answers.

“No. No. Yes. If this is really so important, fine.”

After the last sentence, Kuroko ended the call, and he seemed a few shades paler. “I’m afraid Kise-kun is coming to visit,” he said. “No one will think less of you if you choose to stay in your room.”

Akashi admitted to himself that this was interesting. Kuroko Tetsuya tended to remain a mystery in his constant state of neutrality and subtle gestures, but a single phone call – admittedly the third phone call – shook him up in such an obvious way. Even the heat had only worried Kuroko while whoever was on the other line was apparently an entirely different league.

And Kuroko didn’t want Akashi to meet him apparently.

“Is that so?” Akashi said, hiding his annoyance under a mask of sneer. “Afraid another alpha will steal your omega?”

Kuroko tilted his head in obvious confusion, but the doorbell rang before he could voice his question. He glanced at the time on his phone.

“Almost a full minute. Kise-kun is slipping,” he muttered. He moved to answer the door, but he didn’t make a single step before the door flew open and a yellow blur suddenly tackled him to the ground. Akashi was not concerned for Kuroko by any means, but he felt a small stroke of alarm at the loud crack of Kuroko’s head hitting the ground.

“Kurokocchi! Why are you so mean to me? I call you all the time and text you every hour, but you never ever respond to me,” a high-pitched voice cried.

While Kuroko panted beneath the newcomer’s death grip, Akashi took the opportunity to observe this ‘Kise-kun.’ He was handsome honestly, with slightly long blond hair and fair skin and subtle liquid amber eyes. He also seemed unusually pretty for an alpha – biology usually preferred strength over beauty for them, but once again not even Kuroko was the typical alpha, physically speaking –, but then his rich scent permeated the room, and Akashi realized with wide eyes that he was not an alpha at all.

_An omega._

Akashi almost expected Kuroko to snap at the omega for daring to touch an alpha, but as soon as the thought occurred to him, he knew it wouldn’t happen. Besides, while Akashi had a few inches on the petite alpha, this Kise must tower over him when they both stood.

“Kise-kun, get off me,” Kuroko managed to wheeze.

“But Kurokocchi–”

The odd nickname cut off with a wheeze when Kuroko inserted his elbow into Kise’s abdomen. The omega rolled off the alpha, and Kuroko regained his feet and dusted himself off. Eventually, the overly tall blond did the same, albeit while clutching his wounded torso.

However, the moment Kise spotted Akashi, his pout instantly melted into an excited expression of mischief. While Akashi felt fairly certain that he could take Kise in a battle both physically and mentally, a cold splash of apprehension still sharpened his nerves.

“Ooh, Kurokocchi, is this your mate?” Kise gushed. “He’s so cute!” The omega crouched like he planned to tackle Akashi next, but Kuroko’s cold voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Kise-kun, please, behave yourself or I will call Aomine-kun,” he warned.

At the mention of the unfamiliar name, Kise burst into a mixture of theatric tears and a childish tantrum, and Akashi wondered just how terrible this other person must be. Judging by Kuroko’s threat, this Aomine was likely Kise’s own mate, and Akashi knew what that possibly meant. Still, he thought Kuroko’s friends must at least be civil, but apparently he was wrong. So much for treating omegas decently. 

But then Kise lamented, “Aominecchi got mad at me again, that jerk! My manager paired me up with this alpha girl for the photo-shoot, and you know he hates when I smell like other models, especially alphas. I yelled at him for being an idiot, and now he won’t talk to me! As if it was my fault!”

Unusually large tears streamed down his heated cheeks, and the omega looked genuinely distressed but not… afraid. Like a normal fight between lovers rather than the fear of an omega expecting punishment.

Akashi shifted his gaze to Kuroko whose neutral expression softened into something warmer. “Kise-kun, this happens every other week. You know he’ll stop sulking by the end of the day,” he said.

Kise sniffed delicately and wiped his tears away with the back of his hand. “You’re sure?” he whined.

Kuroko nodded, annoyance now slipping back into his demeanor. Akashi wondered just how often these two got into fights that the blue-haired alpha now only reacted with weariness.

As if he had never cried at all, Kise suddenly shifted back into his mischievousness from earlier. Just how much of that was an act? His lips twisted into a smirk, and his amber eyes narrowed knowingly. “So are you going to introduce me to your mate, Kurokocchi? I’m hurt that you didn’t even tell us! We had to find out from Murasakibaracchi!”

Kuroko gestured to Akashi. “Talk to him yourself. He’s his own person,” he said.

Normally Akashi would act angry if Kuroko had reacted in any other way, daring to speak in his place, but now he almost wished the blond omega’s attention was diverted anywhere but on him. Instead, Kise practically teleported to his personal space and grabbed his hands, his handsome face suddenly too close. Akashi shoved him back, but the omega still hovered only inches away, apparently unperturbed.

“Akashicchi, right?” Kise asked. “That’s what Murasakibaracchi called you! Do you know how lucky you are to have Kurokocchi as your mate? You have to give me all kinds of pictures!”

“Pictures?” Akashi repeated because, really, that seemed to be the only coherent thing in the whole speech he had been given, and the only thing he had understood by the way.

“Of Kurokocchi!” Kise exclaimed, as if it was obvious, “In all kinds of lewd positions. In his underwear, laid on the bed, his cheeks flushed and hair messed up. Come on, you have to have some, right?” the omega urged, his own cheeks heating up at the mental images.

Akashi scowled at Kise’s descriptions, and he oddly wanted to snap the blond’s neck, but before he could make a move, a book sailed through the air and knocked Kise in the temple. He whined and clutched his head, eyes shining with painful tears.

“Kurokocchi, why’d you do that?” he whined.

Completely ignoring him, Kuroko addressed Akashi instead. “I was on my way to prepare tea. Would you like some, Akashi-kun?”

Not bewildered exactly, but slightly confused, Akashi agreed without really thinking. Kise moaned that he would like some tea, too, but Kuroko pointedly ignored him as he left the room for the kitchen.

Kise continued to whimper as he rubbed the sore spot on his head, but when he turned to Akashi, he appeared slightly more like a normal human being. “Let’s go sit in the parlor. Kurokocchi can bring us tea there,” he suggested, already walking that way.

Akashi followed him if only because he’d rather sit down on a comfortable couch while dealing with Kise than stand and fight off his advances. “I’m not sure you’ll be getting any tea,” he said, as the irony of an alpha serving two omegas struck him fully.

Kise laughed lightly while stretching across one of the armchairs, his long legs hanging over the side, as if it was common occurrence. He sent Akashi an oddly knowing glance as he watched the red-haired omega sit on the far edge of the sofa.

“Come on,” he teased. “Have you ever known Kurokocchi to follow through being anything less than polite and perfect?”

Akashi wasn’t sure what made him angrier. The fact that Kise was right or the dreamy star struck look in his amber eyes when he said it. And he had no intention of dwelling on the reasons of his peculiar feeling.

“Don’t you have an alpha?” Akashi snapped.

“Yeah, what’s your point?” Kise said, and the bastard looked genuinely surprised and confused at Akashi’s question.

Sure enough, when Kuroko returned with a tray of tea and cookies, there were three cups, and Kise sent him a smug look as he poured his own tea. Akashi took a page from Kuroko’s book and pointedly ignored him when he sipped from his own cup. Kuroko looked as if he was fighting a headache when he sat in the armchair in neutral ground between Kise and Akashi. 

“You’re so lucky that you get to spend every day with Kurokocchi,” Kise whined. “He doesn’t return my texts or calls or emails or anything!”

“I never get emails from you,” Kuroko said, not bothering to hide the small trace of relief in the sentence.

Kise paled, and his eyes grew even larger. “Whom have I been emailing?” he murmured. After a moment when his scent soured with fear, he apparently shook the thought away and continued, “But still, Kurokocchi is the best. He’s the reason Aominecchi and I are together!”

“No, I’m not,” the interested deadpanned, but he obviously went ignored.

Kise launched into his story, hand gestures and everything, as if Kuroko never said anything at all. “On my way home from a photo shoot, I saw Aominecchi playing street basketball with some guys, but he was being a real asshole about it. I love sports, so I told him I wanted to play, but he said he didn’t want to bother with an omega. I challenged him that I could beat him, omega or not.

“He beat me,” Kise admitted sheepishly, and Akashi was not surprised. “I didn’t notice him at the time, but Kurokocchi was sitting on the edge of the court, and he watched the whole thing. So when I walked home after getting my ass kicked at basketball, he followed me.”

Akashi raised an eyebrow at the blue-haired omega, but Kuroko only shrugged in response and took another sip of tea.

“Kurokocchi and Aominecchi had been friends for a really long time, so he gave me some pointers on his weaknesses. Like how his first instinct is to go for a dunk or how he gets too focused on one part of the game and doesn’t notice other things. So the next day, I challenged Aominecchi on the street court again.

“I still lost, but Aominecchi was looking at me differently. He asked me to play with him again the next day and the day after that. We started playing every day, and finally, I managed to beat him,” Kise boasted, grinning broadly.

“Through skill?” Akashi guessed drily.

“No, I went into heat, he was so distracted that I won and we ended up mating,” Kise admitted, sticking out his tongue guiltily for a second before resuming his accurate speech. “But I eventually beat him just on skill!”

Akashi stared blankly at that, but Kise didn’t act embarrassed. Rather, he seemed almost as proud about the mating as the basketball. Kuroko looked like he wanted to throw Kise out of his house.

A look that only increased when Kise returned his attention to the alpha. “Speaking of mating,” Kise said slyly, “what made you change your mind, Kurokocchi? You never acted interested in finding a mate before. You wouldn’t even consider my offer before I mated with Aominecchi.”

Akashi stiffened at this new information though he scolded himself for his surprise. Every word and action from the blond omega clearly pointed toward his interest in Kuroko, but he also acted decently close to happy with this Aomine. And why would an omega be so invested in another alpha’s life, mating in particular? And why would  _he_ care about Kuroko and Kise's past?!

Kuroko tensed at the inquiry as well. “None of your business,” he dismissed.

“What?” Kise whined. “But Aominecchi and I are your best friends! We’re supposed to tell each other everything.” 

“You tell me too much,” Kuroko said, paling slightly.

Before Akashi could shudder at the thought of just what Kise told Kuroko on a regular basis, the door opened without a knock or ring to precede it. A moment later, a lanky dark-skinned man entered the room, and Kise leapt to his feet.

“Dammit, Kise, your manager won’t stop calling me! Did you really have to go and abandon the shoot like that?” he growled.

“You were upset with me,” Kise retorted, as if that was an explanation, if not even a good reason for his actions.

“Now I’m even more upset because I’m sick of your manager blaming me every time you screw up,” the man, clearly an alpha, snapped.

“You do get some of the blame this time,” the blond protested. “You know I can’t help who they partner me with, and you know I would never be with anyone but you.”

 _And Kuroko_ , Akashi mentally added, and he scowled. Luckily, no one noticed as Kise and who he guessed was Aomine continued their fight.

“I know that, but it doesn’t make it any easier when I smell—” Aomine cut himself off as he apparently scented the air and diverted his attention to where Akashi perched on the edge of the couch, still clutching his tea cup. “Oi, is that Tetsu’s mate?”

 _Tetsu?_  

“Yes,” Kise squealed excitedly, and suddenly, both alpha and omega apparently forgot their fight as they both zeroed in on Akashi. The red-haired omega glanced toward Kuroko – not for help, of course not – but Kuroko still glared warningly at where Aomine approached the couch and peered curiously at Akashi.

“Oi, do you have pictures of Tetsu?” Aomine said, just as serious as Kise had been earlier.

“You’re kidding me,” Akashi murmured, his brain almost ironically supplying him with the thought of what a perfect match that of these two idiots was apparently.

“You know, nudes. Sexy stuff,” Aomine clarified.

“Kurokocchi is so cute that you have to have some,” Kise added. “You’re his mate, right?”

Akashi stood, and the sudden movement at least made the pair step back and give him some space. Kuroko rose to his feet as well, and his pale blue eyes glanced between the three of them as if unsure about where he should intercede.

“I do not believe our intimate life is any of your business,” Akashi hissed. That word,  _our_ , slipped on his tongue far too fast for him to stop it and left behind a scorching trail of regret.

Compared to Kuroko, Aomine seemed like a more traditional alpha. He let his anger get the best of him when he smelled another alpha’s scent on his mate, and he reacted aggressively to a fight. So when Akashi confronted him, especially when the dark-skinned alpha towered over him, he realized he was not engaging in a particularly smart action.

He almost expected Aomine to launch himself at him or something similar. 

Instead, his eyes lit up as if he had just discovered the greatest secret in the world. “You’re taller than Tetsu,” he exclaimed, peering closer at where they stood so close to each other and even pointing at them with his finger, just as excited as a kid. “You’re his omega mate, and you’re _taller_ than Tetsu!”

“Get out of my house,” Kuroko said, his voice making the temperature in the room suddenly drop of several degrees. 

Really, considering how Kise and Aomine both possessed strength and size far superior to Kuroko or Akashi, they could have stayed, but neither seemed to want to risk angering Kuroko further. After some whining from Kise and grumbling from Aomine and multiple promises to see him soon, the pair slinked out of the mansion. Quite rapidly, if Akashi were to be honest.

At least they didn’t seem to be fighting with each other anymore. Akashi wondered if that was how Kuroko solved all their scuffles.

He glanced over to the alpha in question to find Kuroko practically collapsing into his armchair and clutching his tea like a lifeline. He seemed almost more exhausted now that he had right after his heat.

Akashi thought about retreating to his room, but he returned to his seat on the couch instead. As much as he wanted to recover from the whirlwind of Aomine and Kise, he also found Kuroko’s unusual show of emotions intriguing.

“They are your friends?” he inquired.

If Kuroko was a different person, he would have sighed. “I would like to say no, but yes, they are. Aomine-kun and I played basketball together in high school. They are noisy and rambunctious, but they have good hearts.” Kuroko hesitated, but after a moment of deliberation, he continued, “Kise-kun is childish. He doesn’t realize how much he worries Aomine-kun, but Aomine-kun is too stubborn to tell how he feels. So really, they both need to grow up a little.”

Akashi could see where that was coming from, but at the same time, aside his childishness, Kise certainly had pranced about in a manner that clearly showed also his independence. A job, the way he flirted with Kuroko, how he actually answered to his mate. But when Akashi thought about it, neither of those things was what made Aomine angry. The alpha only hated to see his mate working with another alpha, and even then, he hadn’t ordered Kise to quit his job or work with someone else. ‘Sulking’, Kuroko had said, and indeed it hadn’t looked like anything graver than that.

And Aomine and Kuroko treated Kise’s unique personality as if it was a completely normal thing. This was all so unlike what Akashi grew up knowing.

And that was not all that confused Akashi.

“You didn’t correct them,” he approached slowly. “About anything.”

Kuroko did not ask for clarification. After all, they both knew to what Akashi referred. No matter how progressive Aomine and Kise seemed, they surely would not have understood why no dirty pictures of Kuroko existed. And not out of privacy but because Kuroko made no move at all during Akashi’s heat. So he did not ask, but also did not answer.

Aomine, the omega found himself thinking, looked like one who would laugh at their situation. Kise was basically already snickering.

“I believe I will go to my room. Thank you for the tea,” Akashi said suddenly, an odd formal tone to his voice. Kuroko looked up with surprise and parted his lips to protest, but Akashi already turned to walk away.

“Kise-kun is very brave.”

Akashi hesitated. Though he did not turn around, he heard Kuroko rise from his chair, listened to the uncertainty in his words.

“Kise-kun is a model. He goes to work alone and he poses in a group of betas and alphas. He did that even before he mated with Aomine-kun. I know you don’t want an escort, and since Kise-kun is an omega as well, I thought that perhaps you could ask him.”

When Akashi finally turned to face the other again, he noticed how Kuroko suddenly looked uncomfortable, a light blush on his cheeks.

“How to deal with your heats without… mating,” he coughed. Kuroko made a point of regaining his control before finishing, “I should have asked him today, but he annoyed me and it slipped my mind.”

Akashi’s first instinct was to deny any and all assistance. As a general rule, he did not want to go along with anything that an alpha suggested. However, he thought of the freedom in how Kise held a job and simply went to another alpha’s home without any supervision or escort. If he could have something like that, he could pursue dreams he had always planned.

And visit Momoi.

Though a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like his father warned him against this, he swallowed his pride. He was not agreeing to anything necessarily, but he always believed in researching all options.

“I would like to meet with him again,” Akashi decided. Then he thought better. “Though for a very short amount of time.”

“You won’t be able to get rid of him for hours. Possibly never if you do not choose a place that you can escape easily. Or kick him out of,” Kuroko warned, maybe somehow – unnoticeably – a bit amused.

Akashi heard a challenge in his words, and he retorted, “And if I manage?”

Kuroko smiled, small and fleeting. “Then you will have to tell me your secret. Once Kise-kun latches onto someone, he is surprisingly cunning.”

Akashi found himself smiling response, and as soon as he realized what he was doing, he quickly schooled his expression into something neutral once more.

Now what did that mean?


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT.
> 
> Those who follow me (Agap) on Tumblr already know, but EvesMagick has actually abandoned, for personal reasons, this collaboration. The story will NOT be suspended or deleted as I received permission to go on writing it on my own. This chapter is officially the first one that I've written without her assistance. For some more, I'll go on following the main plot line the two of us agreed on beforehand, but we still hadn't chose a general ending for the story so from there on I'll be on my own completely. I will let you know when we'll reach that point.
> 
> The Tumblr public explanation of the whole matter can be found 
> 
> [here](http://agapantoblu.tumblr.com/post/150486878443/no-one-expected-this-to-be-easy-announcement).
> 
> Thank you for your attention and I hope you'll keep on following this story.
> 
> Agap

 

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

 

Morning found Akashi torn between two emotions. If on one hand he was extremely excited to return to the outside world without sneaking around like the lowest of the criminals, on the other he couldn’t help the dreadful annoyance at the mere thought of having to deal with Kise for _an whole day_.

The blond omega irked him in any possible way and for reasons he wasn’t sure he wanted to examine right now, but that was possibly the best chance he could ever get at regaining some freedom and he wasn’t one to let opportunities pass him by.

As he got himself ready for the day, he managed to admit with himself that a recreational exit was possibly the last thing he was expecting after being told his heats would be extremely unstable. Sure, now that he had just passed one, it was safe to assume he wouldn’t be in any danger for the next three or four months at least, but still. Akashi had grown up in the alphas’ world, he had seen how they thought and he had been taught the same way: an omega with unpredictable heats would normally be doomed to a life of confinement, since for an alpha no shame was greater than having their mate touched by someone else.

It was borderline slavery, but who would care? They were just omegas, mere possessions for their alphas, although breathing ones.

And yet. Akashi had tried to push the thought aside; the gods knew he had rolled in his bed almost the whole night trying not to be swept away by the little, _insistent_ , voice in his head telling him that “Kuroko would”. Kuroko would care. Kuroko _did_ care, enough not to force himself on Akashi during heat, enough to find another omega to accompany him outside, to give him the space he had clearly shown he needed by running away that one time.

Seijuro shook his head, forcing himself to put the thoughts aside for later examination, when his phone alarm went off to warn him that he had half an hour left before having to leave the house, if he wanted to be at Aomine and Kise’s place in time.

He sighed prospecting the day ahead of him. Kise had work in the morning so he would probably have to sit somewhere at the studio and watch the other modeling for hours before they could finally leave, have lunch and possibly do something more productive in the afternoon. Kuroko had suggested he joined the blond omega later, for lunch, but Seijuro had no intention to stay within those four walls one minute more than needed. He had no idea when he’d be able to get ‘a day off’ from his new life and he was not going to waste a second of it.

Dressed in a dark burgundy turtleneck and black jeans, he moved downstairs sniffing the hair quietly. He knew Mibuchi-san had apparently retrieved Kuroko’s dog from the veterinary and held the animal hostage to force Mayuzumi to go to their home, but he imagined the exchanged included the pet being brought back to his legitimate owner and he had no intention to bet on whom of the two would be tasked with the errand. He refused to let Chihiro ruin his day, this time.

Luckily, it seemed that whatever feud happening in the Mayuzumi couple was still ongoing because the only scents he could detect were Kuroko’s and Murasakibara’s, both from the kitchen and mixed with some sweet ones and the fragrance of black tea. He reached the room with more easiness than ever since he had moved in and he had to admit that the contrast he found seeing Atsushi’s big frame hovering above Tetsuya’s littler one was quite amusing.

Kuroko didn’t seem to think the same because when his security chief tried to ruffle his hair he slapped his hand away, not forcefully but definitely in an annoyed way.

“But Kuro-chin is so little~,” the beta was complaining, definitely nowhere near getting his boss on his side. When he noticed Akashi, though, the man seemed to let go completely of the previous whim. “Aka-chin, good morning.”

“Good morning to you, Murasakibara,” he answered quite easily, before finally meeting Kuroko’s eyes.

He was a bit worried to find them changed from the previous day, but the alpha simply pointed at the biscuits he was arranging in a plate. “Murasakibara-kun has been so kind as to bake some cookies for us too. Would you like some?”

Akashi didn’t actually accept, because before he could the baker himself had already fetched a cookie and was almost smashing it in the omega’s face.

“Aka-chin needs to eat more,” Murasakibara grumbled, frowning. “Aka-chin is too short.”

 _Short?!_ Seijuro was so close to give the giant a piece of his mind, but Kuroko, always the peacemaker, managed to slip into the conversation before he could.

“Murasakibara-kun, that’s quite a rude thing to say,” he sighed while serving tea, physically placing the cups on the table that was in between the two other men.

“Why? Kuro-chin is even shorter than Aka-chin.”

“ _Murasakibara-kun._ ”

Akashi shook his head at the antics of the other two but savored one of the cookies and sipped carefully on the hot tea. He felt weird, conscious that this life was so different from what he was used to in far more than his nature and the mere relationship between him and Kuroko. The closeness, the warmth, the familiarity; Seijuro had never seen someone treating their employees the way Tetsuya did with Murasakibara, but also the bond between the two cousins of the house was undeniably strong, for as much of an asshole as Mayuzumi could be. The Akashi family simply wasn’t like that.

He kept on eating silently, analyzing the other two and the way they interacted, ‘till when the clock struck eight in the morning.

“I’d better be going,” he said, getting up, and he was quite relieved to see Kuroko nodding, clearly not intended to go back on his word.

“Yes, you and Murasakibara should definitely leave now. I’m sorry for keeping you.”

_What?_

“Murasakibara too?” Akashi frowned, trying not to jump to conclusions, but when he saw Kuroko’s eyes widening slightly and running for a second to the beta’s, as if searching for help, he knew he wasn’t wrong. Nor free, apparently.

“Murasakibara-kun will drive you to Kise-kun’s house and he’ll come to take you home when you’re done.” Tetsuya’s voice was firm yet tentative, his eyes flickering all over Seijuro’s face as if testing it, searching for any sign of emotion.

He found only one: rage.

“I see.” Two words dripping in poison that made Tetsuya immediately get up from his seat, but Akashi turned his back on him to grab the coat he had brought downstairs with him. He had been so stupid to think he’d be allowed to go outside without a babysitter. “Then, shall we go? I wouldn’t want to make Kise wait.”

“Akashi-kun, this is just because Kise-kun’s house is quite far from here. I didn’t mean…”

“ _Have a nice day._ ”

Kuroko stood, sentence broken in middle, watching Akashi storming out of the entrance door. Murasakibara followed him almost at his pace but sparing his boss one last look that was probably meant to be reassuring, not that the alpha felt any inclined to believe it. He let his own shoulders drop with a sigh and headed back to the kitchen just to spy the main gate from the window, a big black car slowly exiting the mansion, and then he went back to his seat. He started playing with a cookie with his mind elsewhere completely, tired.

And to think the day had started so well.

 

 

Akashi sat with both his arms and legs crossed and his head pointedly turned to the window, his eyes seemingly setting fire to the whole landscape outside it, but apparently Murasakibara either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“Kuro-chin worries a lot.” he offered, eyes still on the road, “He’s used to deal with children, not adults.”

“Too bad I happen to _not_ be a kid,” Akashi hissed. “I am fully capable of walking on the streets on my own.”

“So is Mibu-chin.”

Akashi froze, teeth clenching suddenly on his tongue, and his eyes searched for Atsushi’s but weren’t met. He grumbled something, but decided to let the matter drop. His mood had already been ruined enough.

 

 

Aomine and Kise’s place was quite big, a single house with a little garden on the front, but Akashi barely got to knock on the door before it was slammed open and a pair of long arms attempted to choke him.

He foresaw that with the help of his hearing and thus was fast enough to move to a side, letting the blond figure of Ryouta fall face first on the ground. A series of whining later, Kise turned to glare at Akashi who just scrunched his nose at the attempted contact.

“Oi, Kise! Come back here, we’re not done yet!” Akashi turned at the series of curses coming from the inside of the house, apparently from the second floor, but before he could open his mouth the other omega had already grabbed him by a wrist and was pulling him back toward the car.

“Hurry up!” he ushered, slipping inside and pulling Akashi with him before bending forward, beside the driver’s seat, “Come on, Murasakibaracchi, if Aominecchi catches me, I’ll never hear the end of it!”

“So annoying…” the beta mumbled, but he started the car and drove off while the figure of the blue-haired alpha appeared in the garden. In a towel. And nothing else.

Akashi stared at Kise.

“What?” the omega seemed genuinely surprised at Akashi’s blank face, “Aominecchi is acting like an idiot! Just because I put the alpha girl I worked with the other day on the list of my guests for today’s photo-shoot! It’s not even my fault, I’m just doing her a favor because otherwise they wouldn’t let her in!” He rolled his eyes, arms crossed in front of his chest, “He acts as if I’m cheating on him or something.”

“And you would never cheat on him, would you now?” Seijuro didn’t mean to be that venomous, or maybe he did but didn’t mean to let it out so clearly, but luckily Kise didn’t ask him anything. He wasn’t sure he would have been able to give a clear reason for his annoyance anyway.

Ryouta instead ignored his ill attitude to gape at him in disbelief.

“I definitely would never cheat on him!” he exclaimed, honestly outraged, “Aominecchi is my mate!” His rage went away just as fast as it came, pushed out of him with a long sigh. “I just wish he would trust me a bit more, that idiot.”

Akashi didn’t say anything, opting for turning his face to the window as to not show how much the other’s words had hit close to home. He knew he had no real bases to demand trust upon, but he couldn’t help but think about how good it would be to have Kuroko giving him the same freedom Kise had.

“Oh, right, for lunch we have to go to this little place near the agency, the food is delicious! I’ll send Aominecchi a picture so he can eat his own liver for yelling at me so early in the morning, ah! And after that, we can…”

And with that, quietness became a distant foggy dream.

 

 

Akashi felt quite at ease as they walked into the model agency. There were a lot of alphas and betas too, but even if Murasakibara had left them to go run some errands, everybody kept at least a three feet distance from Kise and the only ones who dared to approach them were a couple of beta make-up artists that needed to exchange some information about today’s shot.

Not that he minded being left alone, but the worried attitude of many alphas made him frown.

“It’s because I smell like Aominecchi.”

Seijuro’s head turned immediately toward Kise, who was just spying on him from the corner of his eye but had a little smirk on his lips, like someone who had noticed something interesting. He must have realized his curiosity and Akashi clicked his tongue at that.

“His scent is naturally strong,-” Kise went on as if unaware of the other’s irked expression, “-but he also came here once and punched the hell out of an Alpha photographer who tried to-” he made a vague gesture with a hand and a disgusted expression. It was still enough for Akashi to understand, “-get some intimate shots, let’s say. I would have done it on my own, but he was here to take me out for dinner and he’s always so jealous, so… It’s annoying, but even if I have defended myself more than once before, it had been only after he acted that people got the message.”

Akashi’s fists clenched.

“I will not be dependent on another to stand up for me.” he declares lowly and Kise looked at him curiously, but he didn’t elaborate. He may be an omega, but Seijuro trusted his skills and valued his independence. Not to mention, he highly doubted Kuroko would ever be able to protect someone with that inexistent strength of his.

Kise seemed to read his mind for a little smile opened on his lips, but before he could speak they were approached by an alpha photographer who apologized seemingly endlessly for Ryouta’s work had been postponed of some minutes because of another model running late.

“It’s no trouble, Hayakawa-san, really!” Kise tried to stop the river of twisted words coming from the man, who looked a bit too pissed for someone apologizing, much to Akashi’s bother. “We’ll be waiting in the changing room, if that’s okay?”

After another ten minutes Kise resolved in leaving like that, with the photographer still screaming half-understandble words, and dragged Akashi with him into a changing room, where he finally collapsed on a chair with a long grunt.

“Nobody’s late, we are just early but Hayakawa-san gets paranoid when Kasamatsu-san is not here to oversee the shots.” He shook his head, “He’s a good man, though. Very talented. Kasamatsu-senpai is the one who introduced us after the accident with the other photographer, but apparently he's always been like that. He's not really angry, he just... _looks_ like it.”

Akashi arched a brow as he sat on one of the open chairs, wondering if the other really wanted an interlocutor or if just standing there and pretending to listen as he had done in the car would be enough to get rid of the problem.

“So.” One syllabi and Akashi knew, no, keeping quiet wouldn’t be enough. Kise pushed his elbows on his thighs and laid his face in his hands, staring at Seijuro with confusion. “What’s the deal between you and Kurokocchi? Why don’t you like him? He’s the cutest, sweetest person ever!”

Akashi didn’t mean to notice, really, but Ryouta’s eyes were sparkling as he counted his friend’s endless virtues and he couldn’t help but sneer at him. Something in his sentence, also, set him off somehow and he had to restrain himself from glaring at the other omega.

“I don’t dislike Kuroko per se.” he answered coldly, a voice in his mind wondering why he was bothering with answering such a useless question from someone who had no business with the matter at all. “It’s simply what he incarnates that I cannot accept.”

He shouldn’t be saying this, not out loud and most definitely not to one of his mate’s friends, but somehow he did. Kise was an omega too and one who valued his independence greatly: Akashi knew that, for as annoying as he may be, he surely had felt the same at a certain point.

Still, it was easy to foresee where the blond omega’s loyalty stood and the way he widened his eyes preceded the unsurprising retort.

Kise was many things and had been called worse, but he was loyal to his friends and Kuroko in particular had done so much for him that the thought of the gentle alpha stuck in a loveless mating hurt him deeply. He played and joked about his feelings for Tetsuya, but even with all their fights and Aomine’s stubborn jealousy he himself was in love with his bonded: he knew that Kuroko deserved that same happiness he and Daiki had been granted.

“But that’s unfair to Kurokocchi!” he whined in fact, biting his lower hip slightly, “It’s not like he’s the stereotypical alpha, anyway! Plus, he likes you and that’s definitely a big deal, coming from him!”

At that, Akashi arched a brow.

“How can you tell that?” he retorted coldly, crossing his legs and reminding himself mentally that he didn’t care about the answer. Absolutely didn’t. “He is close to unreadable.”

“He is!” Kise agreed cheerfully, as if simply every part of Kuroko was his favourite. Seijuro strived not to cringe. “But once you’ve known him for a while, you start to get a feel for him. For one thing, Kurokocchi doesn't let just anyone in his life, which is why Aominecchi and I were so shocked he actually agreed to a mate.” Something flashed in his eyes, something far darker than the usual topaz, but it’s gone immediately. “And he watches everybody, but when he watches you it’s different. Like he’s not just observing, but like he really wants to know more.”

_When he watches you, it’s different._

Akashi forced himself to tsk at Kise’s tilted head, but didn’t oppose the theory. He thought, instead, of all the moments he had shared with Kuroko.

Kise observed him for a while more, thinking, before finally letting his smile fall under a more serious expression.

“Say, _Akashi_.” Seijuro lifted his eyes, surprised at the sudden coldness in the other’s voice, but he froze for a second. Kise’s eyes were now scanning him instead of wandering around and they were steady, sharp and serious, demanding and vaguely threatening. The shift in personality was so sudden and extreme Akashi’s shoulders stiffened in response, his body getting ready to fight. “If you and Kurokocchi are together, why haven’t you mated yet?”

Akashi stiffened even more, his stance straighter and more rigid. He had been sure nobody had noticed, but apparently Kise was sharper than predicted. Suddenly, the time alone together in the car took a whole different meaning.

“You didn’t smell like him yesterday.” And Ryouta stood up and bent forward, his face a mere inch from Akashi’s neck. He sniffed openly and Seijuro stood, ready to react, “And you don’t smell like him today, either.”

When he pulled back, the model had a cold look in his eyes and Akashi honestly considered starting a fight, but instead stood still. There were too many people outside and Kise was still an omega like him: that scene was all but theatrics and he wouldn’t fall for it. But he also felt extremely _angry_ , for some reason.

“I don’t believe that’s any of your business,” he huffed instead.

His weak reaction surprised Kise, clearly, because the model furrowed his brows, the threatening stance immediately lost. Akashi pointedly looked away all the same. He didn’t owe anyone an explanation, after all.

“Okay.” That was a surprise. Seijuro turned back to spy on Ryouta, but the other omega simply shrugged as he sat back on his chair. “As long as Kurokocchi is fine with that, I’m not gonna complain.” The model sighed. “He covered up for this despite all the teasing he knew Aominecchi would use about him getting a mate in the end, so it must be something important for the two of you.” When he looked back at Akashi, all the seriousness was back; just, it wasn’t threatening this time, it was almost... worried. “But as long as you don’t mate, you’ll have to be careful, Akashicchi.” _Akashicchi?!_ “You’re an inviting prey with no name label on.”

As much as Akashi wanted to deny any danger for himself – and the fact that he would never wear anybody’s name on himself, like a _possessed prize_ –, he recognized the truth in those words and Kise, idiot as he may be, was genuine perhaps for the first time since they had met. So, instead of starting another fight he conceded and nodded briefly. After all, it was… _nice_ , for Kise to respect the lack of mating even if didn’t understand it.

“ _Akashicchi_?” he asked instead, because he could let a lot of things pass but not that.

“Oh, I add –cchi to the names of those whom I respect!” Kise’s bright smile was probably the reason he got his work _and_ his mate, Akashi reasoned. Then, the omega got up. “Well, time to work! If you’re really not interested in trying to model…?”

“I refuse.” Akashi almost shuddered at the suggestion Ryouta had brought up first in the car, but the model simply laughed at his obvious annoyance.

“Then you shouldn’t let a lady wait for you, Akashicchi!”

Akashi frowned, confused, but Kise smiled as suddenly something fell on Seijuro’s eyes, taking his sight away.

His first instinct was to struggle, but the scent from the hands barely above his nose hit him immediately and froze him on the spot. Under the soft fingers covering them, his eyes widened.

“Satsuki?” he called and suddenly his sight came back as two strong arms forced him to turn and then wrapped him up into a tight embrace.

“Seijuro!” The voice, the long pink hair just under his chin, the soft face in his chest and the scent of peaches and tea and graphite. She was really there, in his arms, hugging him under Kise’s amused look. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much.”

 ---

_Just because I put the alpha girl I worked with the other day on the list of my guests for today’s photo-shoot! It’s not even my fault, I’m just doing her a favor because otherwise they won’t let her in!_

\--- 

Akashi looked at Kise, but the model just waved at them before he left the room, answering Hayakawa's hysterical 'ready's, and then Seijuro could barely blink and Momoi was already fussing all over him like an overbearing older sister.

He had no way to complain at all, yet a little smile found its way to his lips.

As always, she felt like home.


	9. Chapter 9

 

**CHAPTER NINE**

 

The moment Momoi let go of him and he got to take a proper look at her face he was reminded of how she got him to trust her. The smile opening on her face was unadulterated, bright and kind, completely devoid of any judgement. She had the kind of smile that made her look like she always had her arms open and welcoming, ready to hug the sadness out of him. 

Akashi stroked the back of her hand with his thumb gently, for a moment as he slipped out of her hug, but she didn’t look satisfied at all. Instead, she grabbed his wrists and bent forward, just an inch from his nose.

Maybe it was because he was still pretty sensitive after his heat, but when she moved and her scent hit his nose, his stomach lurched in some weird way, making him stiffen a bit.

Momoi's smile faltered as her nose twitched. A flash of fear hit her, the question in her eyes clear enough to make him nod in response. 

Before he could realize, she was already dragging him outside. As they stormed through the crowded room of the photo-shoot set, he caught a confused look coming his way from Kise, still getting ready to get on stage, and he was surprised when, instead of a call for security, the other omega offered him a wink. Akashi would have thought he had had the wrong impression of his relationship with Satsuki – and consequently questioned the man’s loyalty toward Tetsuya, not that he really cared –, if not for the fact that the gesture came along with an half pitying smirk.

He was considering some ways to show Kise exactly how pitiable he was, but they were fast out of the whole building and in the street and he let go to savour the busy sounds of the crowd, the sun, the feeling of walking around freely and not in hiding like a fugitive criminal.

Momoi shook him out of his thoughts by pulling him again, this time into a little café and to a quite secluded spot. When she grabbed both his hands on the table and made him sat across her, she was looking at the turtleneck he was wearing. It was to muffle his scent a bit but suddenly he realized what it must look like to her.

She didn't waste any time, hushing away the waiter with an imperative gesture of her hand – one that Akashi was proud to say she had learnt from him – and hunching forward.

"Did you go in heat?" She murmured it like it was a great secret and he appreciated the discretion.

The memories still burned in his mind like his body had done and he nodded stiffly, not trusting his voice to stand firm on that topic but refusing to show his weakness in such a crowded place. It was enough, anyway. Momoi always got the implications.

"Oh, Seijuro..." she murmured, her voiced so laced with regret and it was stupid because what could have she done to help him? It wasn’t like she could chase it away as she so much liked to do with all the troubles ever coming in his way. But that was just how protective she was and he accepted silently the tightness of her grip on his hands. "Did your-... Did Kuroko...?"

Akashi felt a childish pang of rebellious gratitude as Momoi refused to use the term "mate". It meant that despite her behaviour last time, she was still first and foremost on his side. He was sure she wouldn't hesitate on slicing Kuroko's throat if he told her the other had done anything against his will.

_But he didn’t._ He shook his head to chase the thought and then he forced himself to smile weakly at his friend.

“I knew it would have eventually happened. It was definitely worse than expected, but I got through it,” he assured her. “Regarding Kuroko, he respected my wish not to mate.”

He had already realized it the other time they had met, but Satsuki didn’t look all that shocked at Kuroko’s definitely unorthodox behaviour. She always seemed to be expecting the worst, on guard just like him, but she looked at most a bit surprised, never taken aback like he always felt whenever the other did something beyond expectation. Once more, Momoi let go of him with the surprised face of someone who had just seen a magician doing their trick; as if she knew what would have happened, but she never really believed it would have worked.

She leaned back against the chair and stared at him blinking for a moment. “Did you do without him?”

Akashi had a long experience in dealing with Momoi, so he had it easy in pinpointing every modulation of her voice. The low tone of threat – _how could he let you go through all that pain alone?!_ – with the slow pronunciation of amazement – _he allowed you your space for real?_ – and the little crisps between her eyebrows showing how she couldn’t really pick one of the conflicting sides in her mind. He smiled a bit at the endearing display.

“He and a Beta from the security helped keeping my temperature and hydration in check through the week. They have been discrete and mindful of my boundaries, though.”

He felt something burning at the end of his tongue, stuck in his throat. Those words were aseptic enough to delete the shame he felt for the pathetic state his heat had reduced him in, but couldn’t express how important it had been for him to have someone to help. Gosh, Murasakibara had brushed his teeth after he had thrown up because he couldn’t stand on his feet alone and Kuroko had cleaned his clothes dirty in slick and pre-come.

“Seijuro…”

“It could have been worse, Satsuki.” He didn’t know why he was interrupting her, if out of embarrassment or if because he couldn’t stand the thought that if the discussion were to go on he would have surely taken Kuroko’s side. He wasn’t ready for that, he had yet to elaborate the fact and decide how the whole matter had shifted the balance between them. “You know me, I can recognize the effort he put into helping me. I am grateful for his aid, because it made me far less miserable than how I would have been, but I have no intention of giving him more than this. I don’t owe him gratitude for treating me as the human being I am.”

The waiter from before nervously approached them again, but Satsuki glared at him and Seijuro was almost sure he had whimpered while running away. He smelled Beta, but Akashi was sure even more than half the Alphas he knew would have been just as scared as him under that look. When she turned again, she still had it on and Akashi held it as if it meant nothing.

Satsuki sighed.

“You know I agree with you that he only did what was right to do,-” she tried, sounding tired, “-I just want to say he _is_ indeed acting against common trope.”

Akashi hissed back immediately. “The common trope is flawed and discriminatory, not to mention abusive.” 

“ _I_ know, what I’m glad for is that _he_ seems to realize it too!”

A couple two tables at their left turned at Momoi’s loud voice, but this time it was Seijuro who stared them down. He was far enough for them not to smell him and he was pleased when both of them lowered their gazes, probably thinking he was an Alpha.

“Look.” He moved his eyes back on Satsuki and she was showing her palms as if surrendering, keeping them lowered and with her wrists pressing against the table edge. “I’m not on his side, I’d never do that to you, and I’m not saying you should trust him with your back in a trench during World War Three-” 

Akashi had to arch both his brows at that because: “Satsuki, seriously?”

“Shut up, I’m not done!” Momoi pouted and Seijuro shook his head, but his shoulders relaxed noticeably. Satsuki seemed to calm down as well, but she started worrying her lower lip as she thought how to go on. Akashi let her have her time, and spent a second sending an icy look at the waiter, stiff in a corner of the local, still paling every time his eyes fell on their table. “Okay, listen, Seijuro. I don’t want you to get mad at me, okay?”

That was surprising and Akashi frowned, forgetting completely about the brunette in distress. Momoi didn’t allow him to ask, though, and she lifted her eyes and chin to the ceiling as she took a deep breath. She looked at all like someone getting ready to pull a trigger.

“I met Kuroko-kun the day after your birthday.”

Only that she didn’t shot a bullet; she straight out dropped a bomb that Akashi heard exploding in the middle of his brain, shoving away every shred of knowledge he thought he had. He didn’t even realize he had frozen, he was too busy staring at Momoi’s scared expression.

She, on the other hand, seemed to be expecting him to snap. When she realized he wouldn’t, she gulped once and her gaze fell on the table.

“He contacted me first,” she murmured, a hand slowly slipping closer to Akashi’s, on the table. He let her, unable to move. The contact was still familiar and warm and he accepted it with every word that left her mouth. “He wanted to talk about you, to ask how he could…help you, I think. I’m not sure, I put him to the test immediately, I couldn’t trust him.” She gulped a bit, unsure. “He seemed honest, Seijuro. He told me he just wanted to help you, that he had no intention of ever hurting you. I didn’t exactly believe him, but I thought perhaps... I could have given him a chance to prove himself? It seemed like such luck, in the middle of all your misfortunes, that you had gotten matched with a respectful alpha. I wanted to believe it could be true, that you could be safe despite everything. I shouldn’t have kept this from you last time you came to visit, I know, but you were already so biased toward him. Everything you told me made me think he had been honest with me, but you kept on pushing him away and I wasn’t sure. I-…”

“Did _you_ tell him?” Momoi jerked when Akashi’s cold voice interrupted her, but he was frowning, apparently still far from anger. “About my birthday, and shogi.”

Satsuki bit her lower lip more, but nodded. “But I only told him it was your birthday. He made some researches and found out you used to play in school, so he bought you the board.”

_As if it changes much, Satsuki!_ , but he didn’t say anything. He kept on thinking, moments running in his head like through a completely new filter.

The food. _He cares._ The shogi board. _He’s manipulating you._ His escape. _He just wants to help._ The fights with Mayuzumi. _He’s trying to get you to lower your guard._ The heat. _Give him a chance._ Ryouta’s company. _Don’t trust him!_ Murasakibara’s presence. _You…_

_Momoi._

“How did you know?” _Don’t shout, calm down, you need to stay focused._ Momoi’s eyes looked confused and he gritted his teeth before elaborating. “You asked Kise to put you on his guests list, you came to get me. How did you know I would be here today, when it was just decided yesterday?”

The café seemed quieter, or maybe it was just Akashi’s brain shutting everything but Satsuki’s face outside. Nothing but her answer seemed relevant at the moment. _Please, not you too._ , slammed against the walls of his skull chocking every other sound.

“Ki-chan didn’t tell you?” she asked back, frowning but honest. She wasn’t brushing her fingertip against her palm, as she usually did when she was lying. “We had a photo shot together two days ago, we’re collaborating in a campaign for a perfume. He texted me yesterday to tell me he'd bring you along today and if I could keep you company as he worked.” She smiled, albeit a bit sadly. “I guess he thought that leaving you with an Alpha was better than keeping you on the set…”

“Does Kuroko know?!” This time, Akashi’s voice came out in a low but clear growl. They both knew she was just trying to work her way through his question to avoid a confrontation she wasn’t sure how to handle. While normally Seijuro would accept her silent request and allow the change of topic, this time he couldn’t.

_Please, not you too._

Momoi looked at him in concern for a moment and it was enough for him to read the answer in between the lines.

“Kuroko was the one who told me you’d be with Kise today and who gave him my contact info,” she admitted, but then she hurried up in holding his hand tighter. “He thought you might want some downtime with someone familiar, nothing more. But I believed he would have told you, about this at least. I’m sorry, I…”

“Let’s get out of here.”

It was an order and who cared if they hadn't eaten yet and the waiter from before seemed traumatized and everybody was watching them, _every single person, they’re all watching you, they can smell you._

“Seijuro?” Momoi’s voice betrayed her shock, finally, but he didn’t stop to listen.

“Let’s go somewhere,” he hissed, already on his feet, fists clenched at his sides. “Let’s do something. Whatever.” _I want to forget how much of a prisoner I am._

He started walking out of the place, ignoring the glares, and he didn’t need to turn to know Momoi was following him obediently, but he said nothing. Once in the street, he just started moving through the river of walking people, without stopping ever once, and he focused on that, on avoiding others, on not being touched, not being _caught_ , his eyes tingled and he didn’t care, he just had to avoid everyone, to _escape._

“Seijuro, wait!” Momoi couldn’t keep up, he rationally knew that. He was focused only on the path ahead of him, but her eyes were glued to him, making her stumble and bump into people while desperately try to reach him. “Seijuro, we need to talk!” She managed to brush her fingertips against the sleeve of his pullover and he didn’t think about it, but pulled out of her grip. _You too_. “I know I was wrong, I’m sorry, but you need to listen to me!” A man bumped into her shoulder and she fell a step behind. Seijuro didn’t stop. “Seijuro, listen to me! Your scent is-”

“Quit it, you too!” he roared. _Quit calling my scent into this as if it’s all I am!_

She fell a step behind once more and he started running.

 

 

Reo Mibuchi was a rare beauty; that much, everybody could tell. His black hair were kept to his shoulders and accentuated the slight femininity of his facial traits, focusing the attention of his sharp green eyes and on the soft thin lips. Tall, even taller than his mate, he had a thin frame, but firm shoulders and arms. His manners were those of the most proper omega in the whole country, probably - so much that many people had complimented Mayuzumi in scoring such a great gem -, but he also possessed a strong personality; he just liked to hide it under the surface to keep it private, for only Chihiro and an other handful of trusted people to know. That personality included a great skill for negotiations. 

“Take back this stupid fur-ball of yours, Tetsuya!”

“Now, Mayuzumi-kun.” Kuroko pouted, kneeling on the ground to keep the husky beside his face as to increase the impact of their similarities. Both pair of azure eyes stared with disappointment at the man in front of them. “I’ll let you know you’re being extremely rude. I brush Nigou’s fur every day.” 

“I don’t care, just keep that beast out of my house!”

Kuroko did not bother answering his cousin’s foul mood and instead decided to share a look with the tall beauty behind him, intent in hiding his laughter behind his palm and failing notably.

“Mibuchi-san appreciates my dog.”

The glare Mayuzumi sent him would have probably been enough to level a mountain. “That’s exactly the reason I don’t want it in my house.”

“Oh, stop being grumpy, Chihi-chan,” said Reo, slipping his hand into his mate’s and nuzzling his face against the other’s neck. “If I hadn’t the dog, I would have blackmailed you with _something else_.”

Kuroko appreciated the attempt of the man not to openly say what everybody knew he had implied. Those two’s PDA levels were disgustingly high as it was, really. Tetsuya was glad theirs was an happy marriage, it made him feel a bit more hopeful for the twisted society the were living in. And for his own mating, to be honest.

“Kuroko-chan?” Tetsuya looked at Reo pretending not to be startled and the other smiled at him knowingly, but didn’t point it out. “We’ll be going now. Take care of yourself and your mate. I hope he’ll settle down better, now that this grumpy man is out of the way.”

Chihiro hissed something under his breath, but kept his mouth shut. Kuroko always marvelled at the thought that his so easily annoyed cousin had been so tamed by his mate: in all the years that they had been together, and they were many, he had never heard Mayuzumi raising his voice in Mibuchi’s presence, let alone _at_ him.

“I will, when he comes back,” Kuroko assured, pointedly glaring at Chihiro when the other’s face opened up in a disbelieving expression. “He’s hanging out with an old friend of his, today. I’ll pass on your wishes and I’m sure he’ll appreciate them.”

“Will not, the ungrateful brat.”

“ _Mayuzumi-kun._ ”

Reo’s skin shivered when both the alphas’ aggressiveness filled their scents. It was a natural reaction as his brain, answering omega instincts, told him to stand aside and let the two solve it on their own, but he didn’t like it when the cousins fought.

While Kuroko insisted on using the other’s last name out of politeness, they were really close. They had been for a very long time, far before Kuroko’s parents died and Tetsuya was left in his aunt’s care, under the protective wing of his cousin. When Chihiro had declared he wanted to mate Reo, who came from a far less wealthy family and had a big luggage of problems caused by his early presenting – included the possibility that he would never be able to give his alpha an heir –, Kuroko had been the only one to give his full support but since he had already become the head of the main branch back then, his wealth and influence had luckily sufficed to win over Mayuzumi’s side of the family. They had been on each other’s side for so long, it made Mibuchi’s heart clench to see the hesitance in his mate every time they argued because of Akashi.

Still, Reo could not justify his mate’s suspiciousness completely and he preferred to side with Tetsuya for the time being. He was quite curious to meet this other omega, too.

This time, Mayuzumi backed off with a grunt and Kuroko sighed under his breath, much to Mibuchi’s relief. He didn’t want to push his luck, though, so he pulled gently at the hand his was intertwined with.

“We should really go, now,” he stated slowly, and Chihiro grunted again but nodded.

Mayuzumi turned to Tetsuya, to tell him something, but he was stopped when his cousin’s phone started to ring, making him frown when he read the ID on the screen.

“What?” he asked, but Kuroko shook his head.

“It’s Akashi-kun’s friend.” _Why is she calling me?_ “Mibuchi-kun, could you hold onto Nigou for a moment?”

Tetsuya had a bad feeling about that, so as soon as he’d passed the dog's leash to the omega, he gesture with a finger to the other two men to wait for a second and, while aware of his own rudeness, he answered anyway.

“Momoi-san, good aft-”

“ _Seijuro disappeared!_ ” Kuroko froze, his blood running as cold as Mayuzumi’s furious ‘What?!’, that went ignored as the girl kept on talking. “ _I told him we have met, he was shocked and angry, I don’t know! He ran into the crowd and I lost him!_ ”

“Where are you?!”

“ _Near the Maji Burger close to the model agency, his scent is getting smeared around but I think he went toward the old elementary school area._ ”

“Please, inform Kise-kun, I’ll be there in a minute.”

Kuroko hung up without waiting for an answer and he hoped the girl wouldn’t hate him for that. He was still placing the phone back on his pocket when he had his keys in his hands and was running to his car, followed close by the other two men.

“Tetsuya!”

“Mayuzumi-kun, please, not now!” _I have no time for this!_ , he thought, striving to keep his usual expression despite the turmoil in his head, “Akashi-kun just got out of heat, his scent is still strong and he may be in danger. I will listen to your complaints another time.”

Mayuzumi stopped for a second, taken aback, and Reo recognized easily the frozen stiffness on his shoulders. He could almost read the thoughts in his lover’s mind, but since the situation was dire he decided to be the one to sort them out for him. 

“Chihi-chan.” Chihiro knew that voice; he rarely heard it, because Reo was ‘a good accommodating omega’, but he knew there was no way to defeat that tone. When he turned toward his mate, the man was looking at him in all seriousness, the dog brushing his head against his side as if too soothe him down. “Go with him. 

Mayuzumi cursed under his breath, his eyes running at Tetsuya as he sat into the car, but then he turned a pointed a finger at his mate.

“I _don’t_ like the brat, okay?!” he hissed, venomous, “I’m just doing it for Tetsuya and for you, get it in your head now!”

Reo didn’t bother with any answer, but just pushed the man toward the car with an hissed “Hurry up!”.

Tetsuya barely waited for Mayuzumi to get in before starting the engine and Mibuchi watched them leave with an awful feeling in his stomach. Flashes from his last assault made him shudder, even if it hadn’t been the first time, and without thinking he dug a hand into the dog's fur.

Nigou wailed a bit, confused, and Mibuchi smiled at him, but stopped before he said anything. When he felt something warm around his shoulders, he turned to a side to find, surprised, that Murasakibara had joined him. 

“Mibu-chin should get in too,” the beta munched around a mouthful of chips – and Reo strived not to made a face at all the crumbles he had left all around the jacket he had just laid on him –. “New alphas in the security.”

Mibuchi stole a glance around and noticed the couple of men eyeing him from the entrance gates, so he nodded, without saving a sigh. As Murasakibara walked beside him, he bit his lower lip, though.

“Shouldn’t you and your men go help them with the search?” he asked lowly. “I won’t have problems if I stay inside.” He hated it, hated that he had to lock himself in a room to be safe even at his mate’s cousin’s house, but in the difficult situation they were in, he wasn’t going to be the reason many possible allies were held back from helping.

“Dunno,” Murasakibara answered, bored, digging into his packet to get another handful of chips. “Last time, some betas asked why we didn’t report the attempted escape. Kuro-chin told them to mind their own business.” 

Reo gulped, allowing himself to be guided to the living room, and as he sat down on the sofa, Nigou's head carefully placed in his lap, he realized what it really meant.

There were always some omegas that tried to run, so the government had zero tolerance for them: if they were reported, caught and their mates refused to take them back, they were brought to facilities that took care of training them back into the proper omega’s mold, through means that terrified him just by thinking about them; and whoever gave them shelter or help met a severe punishment too, regardless of their status. Even alphas could get in troubles for such a charge. 

And _two_ attempted escapes in less than a month…

_Nobody must know._ , Reo realized, _Nobody must ever know about it._

Atsushi patted his shoulder gently and he didn’t even care about the crumbles, he just wanted his family to make it back safe and sound.

 

 

Akashi was panting, but he didn’t care and he kept on running searching for a break in the river of people all around him.

So many scents filled his nostrils but he refused to let them make him dizzy. Alphas, betas, omegas, they all mixed together, but held no meaning to him. Only one scent now filled his head, so _furiously_ alpha’s. 

It was the first time he really felt the abyss that had opened between him and Satsuki. Sure, she had presented first, alpha as expected of the young pupil of the Momoi family, but it was simply the norm for girls to present earlier, just biology, so he hadn’t really thought much about it. He was supposed to join her shortly after anyway, the next year; but an year became two and then alpha became omega and now everything had shattered all around him.

Satsuki was an alpha, and he wasn’t. They were friends, they had been for years, but now he could feel the cracks between their points of view. She was content with knowing her friend had a mate that would treat him well; he couldn’t shake off the knowledge that in just one moment he had gone from a person to a _thing_ , and who cared how much of a cherished one.

The people became fewer and fewer, ‘till when finally there was nobody and he stopped running. He took a couple of hesitant steps more, his chest rising and falling heavily with big breaths and his turtleneck stuck uncomfortably to his skin with sweat, but finally his mind was empty of any scent and he could focus only on the fragrance of grass and dust and old metal. He looked ahead of himself, for the first time for real, and found he was in an old playground, somewhere in a desert park. There were rusty swings that didn’t move at all, a sand box filled with mud and a slider covered in leaves and dirt. From the look of it and the deadly silence in the stagnating air, it must have been abandoned for quite some time.

_Abandoned_ just like him _._ He wanted to laugh at the irony, but only a dry chuckle escaped him. Who cared if he was? He didn’t need anybody but himself. He didn’t need his father or Momoi, didn’t need to have sex and a mate, didn’t need Kuro-

His eyes widened.

Normally, Akashi would have noticed someone following him, but he supposed his anger and distress blinded him. Now, however, he caught the scent of someone somewhere in the dark only a few steps behind and he stiffened, ready to fight.

_Two. Maybe three._ He clenched his teeth, fists ready, as his sense sharpened. _All alphas._

He didn't need anyone. No one ever coddled him, and he refused to let it happen now. He would get out of this, no matter the voice in his head wondering if he could really fight against three alphas.

And judging by their scents - Akashi grimaced - they clearly wanted more than to just rough him up a bit.

“Hey, pretty boy,” came a mocking voice from behind him, “Wanna play?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there's something this story is trying to convey, is the importance of #Equality. Everybody, stay safe and strong.

 

**CHAPTER TEN**

 

_“Hey, pretty boy, wanna play?”_

Akashi felt bile filling his throat at those words, what they implied and the heavy scents that accompanied them, but he kept an impassive face as he turned.

He was right, there were three of them. All alphas. 

They all wore casual yet clearly expensive clothes, a surprise in the desolation of the abandoned park, and looked strong, like athletes of some kind or some fitness maniacs. One had strangely spiky hair, but he was the least remarkable of the group, Akashi could feel that. Of the other two, one was simply huge, bulky and dark-skinned but with short hair a shade weirdly close to grey or silver despite him probably being just a few years older than Seijuro himself; he also had something, like a flame, burning in his eyes, and a clearly dangerous one. The third of them stood slightly behind his companions, but in between them, in the central position that gave away his leadership just as much as his scent, the strongest of the three. He had blonde hair and seemed around the same age of the other two, yet somehow he would have kind of resembled Kise if not for the aggressive bent of his grin and the tattoo of a spiral on the left side of his neck, slipping down his shoulder to hide under the black shirt he was wearing.

Akashi knew the last one was the chief among those idiots, it would have been easy to see even if his senses hadn’t started tingling, still sensitive after the heath, to focus on him. He shot down the small voice in his brain telling him to go, to search for the protection of the strongest, and instead he bent his knees just slightly, his shoulders stiff, as he assessed the situation.

If he could get the boss, the others would run; that was just how alpha packs worked, fully based on strength and all and completely terrified to face whatever threat took their leader down. Part of it was instinctual, but Akashi didn’t linger on the possibility of this time ending different, he couldn’t allow himself to.

 _It's okay_ , he told himself. He didn’t have to beat all the three of them, he just had to beat the only one that mattered. He could do it.

He had never been trained to use his scent for anything omega-like. Making it more seductive, erasing it to hide his emotions, letting it out to allow his mate to read him, were all things he couldn’t do. But using his scent to intimidate, to affirm leadership and strength, _that_ had been drilled into his brain since the day he was born. So he let it out with a low growl from the bottom of his throat and his smell grew darker and threatening as he hid his thoughts behind a smirk that almost resembled a snarl, but without the fangs that only alpha could grew during fights.

The bulky man smirked at his attitude. “Feisty, aren’t ya?” he asked in heavy accented Japanese.

Akashi just waited enough for the man to outstretch an arm toward him, then he snapped.

 _Emperor Eye_ was just a fancy name, one that Seijuro had never bothered with, for a special gift that only some omegas developed with their presenting and that usually was a genetic inheritance. It allowed its possessor to foresee other people’s actions and it was supposed to be used to better and faster appease the alpha mate. At the end of the day, it was another proof of how far Akashi was from the world he had grown up in, but at least it came in handy now. He had only used his once, while escaping Kuroko to visit Momoi, to avoid the guards, but he had felt its existence since the very first day he had woken up after his presenting. It had been hard to keep it at bay, not to let Kuroko know he had such an ace up his sleeve, but now there was no reason to hold back.

His quick analysis of the three opponents was done before the arm outstretched toward him could even come to brush against his skin.

Obviously the chief wouldn’t take part to the first part of the assault. He would just wait for the other two to bring the prey down and then he’d enjoy the prize. _Bastard._ Not that Akashi was going to let it happen. 

He dodged the silver-haired man’s first fist and darted away from the punch of the spiky one. As they were completely out of balance, it was far too easy to slip past them and aim for the blonde’s face.

 _Too easy._ And the alpha was smirking.

“Come on, eye-candy,” he commented, as if nothing was happening, while grabbing Akashi’s wrist with no effort, despite the speed and strength in the surprise attack. “You really think you're the only one who can see the future?”

Something tingled in his left eye, something red like Mayuzumi’s irises had been as he attacked, and Akashi was still in the middle of his movement when a knee hit him hard at the top of his stomach, making him cough spit.

 _It can’t be!_ His thoughts were fogged by the sudden pain that brought him to his knees, but he was still lucid enough to realize how impossible what had just happened was. The Emperor Eye was a development of omega instincts, to foresee his mate’s needs, and in no way an _alpha_ could have it! _Not in Japan, at least._

His thoughts and the memories he was trying to grab broke down as a kick reached him straight to the spine, making him hiss and roll to a side, trying to escape the second. He managed, but got hit in the stomach again and the bruise already forming shot thunders in his brain.

Akashi was right about one thing at least: the blond man waited as the other two grabbed him by the arms and roughly dragged him to his knees again, pushing against his wrists behind his spine to force him to arch his back as if submitting. Only then their boss leered down at him and grabbed his chin to roughly pull his head up and meet their gazes.

Both his irises were red now and he must have noticed Seijuro’s confusion.

“In America, this Eye is a special gift for alphas,” he gloated, a wicked gleam in his eyes. "We know exactly when our omegas need us...or when they plan to try to escape. And we're not about to let that happen, are we?”

They were so close, face-to-face, and Akashi knew it was a stupid decision, but still spat directly in the man’s eye. He only had a moment of triumph before the big one struck him to the head from behind, so hard that the world spun for a moment.

He growled, low and dangerous, and the man saw it, but only smirked, as if dealing with a disobedient child, while cleaning himself with a hand.

“It’s the first time I see such a rebellious omega,” he almost chanted, condescending. “No wonder you’re not mated, I bet Japanese alphas are too weak to tame you, right?” Kuroko's face was fast in Akashi's mind, but he shooed it away, just as the blonde laid a hand on his nape. “Don’t worry, we’re nothing like them.”

Just like that, the blond alpha roughly grabbed his hair and jerked his head back, pushing a thumb of his free hand into the corner of his mouth to force it open. Akashi tried to fight, wriggling with his whole body, but lips crashed painfully against his, and a tongue invaded his mouth in the sickest manner possible. He tried to lash away, but the other two held his body still.

When the man finally pulled back, he nipped at the omega’s ear to murmur sensually. “The Eye was originally meant to protect the little omegas like a good alpha should, but I found a better use for it, don’t you think?”

“I don’t.” Akashi’s hiss had barely faded into the thick air when he brought his teeth down, _hard_ , on the thumb still lingering at the corner of his mouth. He might not have had fangs like an alpha, but the American man cursed loudly all the same and the others gasped, clearly shocked by the resistance they weren’t expecting.

Akashi smirked, for the mere second before the man lifted his hand and struck him in the face with its back. Once, then a slap, then twice. He hit again and again, his free hand gripping tightly on Seijuro’s hair, and when he stopped he was growling and Akashi’s face burned, but even more burned his eyes, still filled with defiance.

“Go rot in Hell,” the omega growled.

“I'll meet you there, little slut,” the blond snarled furiously, his eyes sparkling red once again. “I'll fuck you within an inch of your life, and then these two can have what's left.”

 _So this is how it happens, uh?_ It was weirdly ironic, Akashi realized, as the alphas tried to slam his face in the ground and began pulling at his clothes despite his struggle to get free. He had spent so long being wary of Kuroko, sure that the attack would come from him, and instead he was caught as he ran from the man. His life was such a disturbing morbid joke, as of lately.

He was still holding on, his spine trembling under the pressure, when he heard a voice. A voice he had come to know in a variety of tones and inflections over the past few days, but never so utterly terrifying, exactly like the alpha it belonged to. Icy, protective and filled with righteous fury.

“Remove your hands from him right _now_ , and if you touch him again, I will send you back to your families in a shoe box because there won't be enough of you left for a full body bag.”

Akashi’s hair were still in the alpha’s grip and his head was forced still, but when he moved his eyes to a side he could still see Kuroko’s thin form and something, weirdly enough, twirled inside him. The picture of Kuroko in his old house garage, not even strong enough to lift one of the boxes with Seijuro’s stuff to fit it in his car, filled his mind and he couldn’t help his disbelief at the thought that, _still_ , here he was, acting like the big scary alpha he maybe should have been, but definitely wasn’t. For a moment, completely irrationally, he almost forgot about himself.

“Kur-!” he couldn’t even finish the word, because his bulky jailer brought a hand to his mouth, gagging him.

Obviously enough, the only reaction of the blond alpha was to arch a brow at the threat. “Uh? And who’d you be?”

Kuroko was wearing a collared white shirt and khaki brown pants and was standing as tall as barely half the other alpha’s size, but still he stopped directly in front of him to proudly declare: “I am his mate. If you’re a worthy alpha, let the omega go and fight me for him.”

For the dreamer he was, Kuroko honestly had no illusions. He knew he couldn’t beat in a fight even one of those men, let alone all three, and he was painfully aware that Akashi _barely_ considered him his mate, and probably only because of how heat had been spent; however, he also knew that help would come soon. If he could just hold these men off until Aomine and Kise got there after following his trail of scent and the text he had sent them as soon as he had sniffed alphas together with Akashi, they could solve the matter.

He just had to keep Seijuro from getting hurt; that was his duty, as a mate. He only hoped Akashi could forgive him for treating him like a prize to be won, since it was for the sake of the situation.

Luckily, for once Akashi had other things to do rather than feeling offended. Did Kuroko really think he could beat them? Because there was no way in Hell _and_ Heaven for it to happen! Was he suicidal? Was he trying to get himself killed?! Because that was the only result he was going to get!

The American alpha laughed, clearly reaching for the same conclusion.

“Well, ain’t this a surprise?” he asked, but to nobody in particular and he shook Akashi’s head, by his hair, a bit before smirking at the alpha. “Okay, let’s do this your way. My name is Nash J. Gold, and yours would be?”

Akashi froze for a moment at the familiar name. He’d heard it already, his father had mentioned it before, during one of his business meeting, but that was far from good news. Nash was a rich asshole from the high class, someone who was used to have people obey him completely, and so he wouldn’t quietly step back from the fight and ran away in front of Kuroko’s status and wealth. _His name was the only powerful thing Tetsuya had and now it’s useless!_

“Kuroko Tetsuya,” still the man offered, his expression giving away nothing, completely unaware of the kind of person standing in front of him.

Nash only grinned wickedly, maybe never having heard of the other even. “Well, Kuroko Tetsuya, I’m sure you’ll understand if my friends here-,” The two alphas pulled at Akashi, dragging him up to his feet to face Tetsuya, “-hold the little omega right where he is while we sort this out like alphas. We wouldn’t want our precious prize to run away, would we?”

Kuroko glanced at Akashi, and for as much as the instincts inside his mind were screaming at him to growl, for as much as he wanted those people’s hands off him _right now_ , the expression he saw on Seijuro’s face made him fear the other might jump into the fight out of pride if let free. Besides, Aomine and Kise would – _should_ – come and get him away from there soon enough anyway, that was the priority they had set. With all that in mind, Tetsuya nodded at Nash. “I understand.”

Akashi’s eyes widened.

And what would make him question his own sanity in any other situation was, he wasn’t angry for the way Kuroko was treating him, like an object, but the simple fact that Kuroko was _acting like a complete idiot, he really wanted to die!_ In his mind, with his fists clenched, he swore that if they made it out of that situation, he would grant his mate’s wish and put an end to his apparent suffering, _alpha or not._

“I must say-,” Nash chuckled, approaching Tetsuya calmly, hands in his pockets and relaxed shoulders, “-I am almost sorry to ruin such a cute face.” He moved a hand, caressing with his fingertips the outline of the other’s face and Akashi pulled once more at his jailers. “If only you didn’t stink of alpha as much, I wouldn’t mind taking you instead of him. He doesn’t really look like he’ll be good enough to be worth the fight we had to put up.”

Kuroko’s blood boiled at those words, the animalistic part of his brain desperate to lounge in defense of his mate, but he kept his control and just crouched into a battle stance, ready for the fight everybody knew he wouldn’t win.

 _Enough!_ The same trick wouldn’t work twice on Nash, it barely worked the first time, but his friends were not as smart as him, so Akashi managed to wriggle enough to bite at his captor’s hand too and the other pulled it away with a growl, freeing his mouth.

Akashi didn’t want to consider Kuroko a friend or an ally, he didn’t want to give him that chance to betray him as his own family did, but he also didn’t want Nash anywhere near him, if not for anything just because the two of them were the opposite extremes of a scale he didn’t want to see.

“Tetsuya, you're being an idiot!” he shouted, unaware of the name slipping on his tongue, just as it did in his mind, until the moment it left his lips and it was too late to take it back. “Stop this farce right now!”

It was a stupid gesture, but Kuroko glanced at him, clearly surprised, and Nash took advantage of his distraction to attack first. Tetsuya managed to dodge, but barely, and just like that he was suddenly in troubles. Akashi watched his mate trying to put up a fight, avoiding as much as he could and attempting to land some punches in, but it was immediately clear which alpha was the strongest and would end up on top. It was genetic, after all.

Kuroko got a punch to his face just in that moment and lost his balance, stumbling backward. Akashi struggled to get free again, the man beside him trying to cover his mouth again and shouting profanities, the both of them failing quite miserably, but Seijuro didn’t care, because the fight in front of him was getting way to serious, Nash punching Kuroko again as the other tried to get back in a battle stance, and Tetsuya would have gotten killed that way!

“Get your hands off Kurokocchi and Akashicchi, you sick bastards!”

Akashi never thought he'd be so relieved to hear Kise's voice, but a petty part of his brain told him it was just because Aomine’s boisterous tone quickly followed.

Daiki, full dressed in his police uniform, lunged into the fight with Nash with no hesitation, shoving him away from Kuroko while Kise, eyes now filled with fury and the cheerful attitude completely lost, attacked the bulkier one of Akashi's guards. As soon as the man left his grip, Seijuro spun on himself, moving behind the other one while twisting his arm. There was a sickening sound of crushed bones and he let go just to deliver a kick in the side, maybe a bit too eager to give back what he received.

The alpha with spiky hair grunted and Akashi was ready to deliver a punch to his face, to take him down once for all, when the man simply fell on the ground. 

Seijuro stared for a second, frowning, before lifting his eyes and there Kuroko stood, staring at the man with a slightly angered expression – Akashi was amazed he could really show some facial movement at all – and completely uncaring of having just slammed a thick branch against the alpha’s head.

“I hope it hurt,” he only hissed, in a kind of pouty way and Akashi looked at him. He looked at how frail he was, how he was panting, how he was trembling and the marks of Nash’s beating all over him, the sweat-drops running down his face on his pale complexion and his dishevelled clothes. He felt a violent emotion hitting him straight to the stomach all at once, so hard he trembled.

Before he realized, he had grabbed Kuroko’s collar.

 

 

Kuroko had always been protective of those he cared for and of course putting himself in danger for Akashi’s sake came naturally to him, especially once he saw the three alphas surrounding and hurting him. While he normally avoided violence, he admitted all those values had left him the moment they had armed his mate, but he knew better, by now, than to expect Seijuro to return such a sentiment. So, when the omega grabbed him for the collar and pulled him closer, he was expecting another blow, even more so after all the terrible things he had said before to keep Nash’s attention to him.

He did not expect, though, the raw feelings in Akashi’s eyes as he shook him. 

“Are you an idiot?! Or are you just blatantly trying to get yourself killed?!” Akashi growled, with his usual aggressive stubbornness, but Kuroko could smell the distress in his scent, one that didn’t come from rage.

Seijuro had been _worried_ , and worried _for him_ , and Kuroko fought the urge to cry in relief, warmth filling him as he looked at that face and saw an opening, finally.

“Don’t look at me that way!” Akashi shook him again, clearly reconsidering hitting his mate, “What the hell is wrong with you?! Do you not have any sense of self-preservation at all?! For real?!”

There was some kind of rage in Seijuro’s scent now, but Kuroko just smiled faintly as he lifted his hands to attempt a gentle touch to his mate’s wrists, still close to his collar. The warmth he felt relaxed him even more.

“Yes, yes, you’re right, Akashi-kun,” he pretended to accept when he realized his mate was really on the verge of punching him now, but the both of them could hear in the tone that he wasn’t even aware of what he was agreeing to, probably not having listened in the slightest.

The omega opened his mouth, and it was clear he was going to start on quite the vehement rant, but before he managed a blond figure jumped on him from behind.

Akashi couldn’t even breath before Kise somehow managed to pull them both into bone-crushing hugs, and only Kuroko, still sensitive from his brief encounter with Nash, obviously flinching made him back off slightly, but just to start whining like a grade-schooler. “Kurokocchi, Akashicchi, you both really scared us! You can't do that to me!”

Akashi listened with an impassive face to the model’s complains, but let him go on, somehow begrudgingly grateful for the help. Still, it didn’t prevent him from noticing that Aomine was calling the police station to come picking up the three alphas, now all unconscious.

 _Great._ , he thought, watching the bodies on the ground with a frown, but unable to stop a little malicious thought. _I wonder what kind of face father will make seeing this on tonight’s news._


	11. Chapter 11

 

 

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

 

Akashi would admit he wasn’t a good and devote son from there to the other world, and that was surprising considering how eager he had been to please his father for his whole life before presenting. Apparently being an omega hadn’t only changed the way Masaomi looked at him.

It was a refreshing sensation, kind of inebriating, and that was probably why he forgot for a moment he had been assaulted and saved just a few moments before. The feeling of being free from his father’s influence out-powered the feeling of being in Kuroko’s possession, in everything similar to some kind of drug-induced hallucination.

Then a dead weight jumped on him – and if it was Kise again, he would have made him _cry_ – and he hoofed as the breath was knocked out of him. The weight fell away immediately after, the scent giving away its possessor, and Akashi turned while processing all possible outcomes in his head.

Outcome one: Momoi knew he had been attacked and was bawling her eyes out; he needed to calm her down. Outcome two: Momoi knew he had been attacked because he had ran away alone and was ready to kill him for being irresponsible; he _absolutely_ needed to calm her down.

He met those pink irises, or what could be seen of them through half closed lids that spoke of troubles, and he almost clicked his tongue, but managed to stop himself from giving any hasty word away. Before he could speak, anyway, her hand snapped and grabbed his ear, torching it mercilessly.

Akashi hissed and glared at her, but she apparently couldn’t care less as she started on the umpteenth endless rambling about his recklessness and stubbornness.

The abandoned park they were in was slowly becoming crowded with policemen that Aomine directed easily toward the unconscious alphas and the buzzing voices didn’t help Akashi’s confusion. Kise was still hanging on Kuroko’s neck, bawling and complaining about an almost-heart-attack that Tetsuya’s expression seemed to say he wished did come instead. The rusty swings clanged a bit when a strong wind rose for a moment, carrying a bunch of scents to Akashi’s nose, and Daiki slapped his mate’s nape grumpily ordering him to let go of Tetsu.

Seijuro wasn’t surprised in the slightest when Kise didn’t obey, but he also managed to keep the irritation at bay when he saw the blond almost suffocating his – _whose?!_ – alpha. There was something oddly warm in that picture. 

By now, Akashi had been told thousands of times that he wasn’t supposed to go around alone, that he’d always be in danger, that alphas wouldn’t see him as anything but a pretty fuck, but nobody had told him that there would be idiots to come and help him

“You’re not listening in the slightest, are you, Bakashi-kun?!”

The horrifying disfigurement of his name and a tug to his ear made him turn and glare at Satsuki once more, just to receive back two round cheeks and a loud exhaling. She had her free hand on her hip and her brows furrowed in a childish manner that made her look adorable, especially with her wild hair and the flush of red on her neck. It was a little rash she always got when she was worried or scared; it surely would be gone in a little but right now it was there and it made Akashi feel half guilty and half relieved.

Momoi was an alpha and she couldn’t understand many things that came with being an omega, but she cared. She would always care for Akashi.

So he outstretched a hand and touched her face carefully, gently. He didn’t say he was sorry, for _anything_ , or grateful, for _everything_ , but that was enough for her and she huffed finally letting go of his poor ear.

It hurt a lot, now that he noticed.

“Whatever!” she grumbled, crossing her arms and straightening up, as if hoping to look more intimidating despite lacking some inches compared to Seijuro. “There’s no use in talking to your thickhead. I’ll just have to keep an eye out on you even more from now.”

“Momoi-san,-” Both Akashi and Momoi turned their heads toward the voice and were met with Kuroko’s usual blank face, with the additional charms of a split eyebrow and lip and a bruised cheek, and an overall distraught look. Satsuki blinked once while Seijuro bit his tongue and refused to meddle, “-though I appreciate your concern, I hope this incident will not be repeated."

Tetsuya only stole a look at Akashi, almost involuntarily, but Momoi was far less hesitant and turned to glare at her friend, who ignored her.

"Damn right!" Aomine thought well to add as he jogged up to their group while the last of his colleagues dragged away the biggest alpha’s body with no little troubles. He, though, pointed to Kuroko and Akashi both. "You two are really fucking lucky."

Akashi saw Kise attempting to jump on Kuroko again as he wept once more, but Daiki wrapped an arm around his waist and blocked him just in time to spare Tetsuya’s bruises.

On his part, Seijuro could admit to feel slightly guilty. He was perfectly aware that if he just handled the revelations better nothing would have happened, but he didn’t say anything. His head was slightly spinning now that the adrenaline was receding and his sense of smell, still sensitive after the heat, was not exactly happy of the many different alphas’ and betas’ scents that had impregnated the air.

A gentle touch brushed against his shoulder and he had to actually blink a couple of time to clear his mind and focus on Kuroko’s face in front of him. The alpha had probably caught up on his distress, he decided, because the look into those azure eyes was full of sympathy.

"Shall we go home?" Tetsuya asked calmly and Akashi hesitated only a second before nodding.

He honestly didn't want to go back to his prison, but he was rational enough to admit that was the best option right now. Not to mention – and he stole a look at Aomine bickering with Momoi about leaving her scent on his mate or Kise still fussing over both his and Kuroko’s injuries while being completely ignored –, he felt like now maybe something could actually change. The heat had been an important step, but so had been the fight; seeing Ryouta beating an alpha held a great meaning and having Momoi and Kuroko getting along and trying to understand him seemed kind of… nice. Somehow.

It still didn’t mean Seijuro saw Kuroko as the best thing to ever happen in his life, far from that. He was still the alpha who _bought_ him and it would have been stupid to forget that they weren’t equals in the slightest according to the law, but the way Tetsuya treated him seemed after all genuine and possibly a good way to start building something that wasn’t simply blind hate.

So he started walking beside Kuroko, who offered Momoi a ride that she politely turned down to instead offer to accompany Kise back to the model agency. Aomine led the way out of the park and toward the police cars, begrudgingly accepting – or better, recognizing that Kise had already accepted – the girl’s offer.

And then they all stopped short when they saw Mayuzumi in the crowd of uniforms slamming a cop against the police van, firmly holding his collar in a hand.

“Oi!” Aomine exclaimed, gesturing with an arm for the others to wait as he instead went closer. “What the hell are you doing?!”

“ _Tefth?!_ ” Mayuzumi growled, but he was looking at the blond alpha in front of him, Wakamatsu according to his plate, and his eyes were starting to glow red. He didn’t seem to have heard – or listened to – Aomine in the slightest, but Seijuro noticed Tetsuya tensing too and was surprised when suddenly Kise’s hand wrapped around his wrist. He tried to take a look at the model, but the other was looking at Chihiro, who almost snarled: “Do you even realize what they were trying to do?!”

Akashi blinked. His palm in Ryouta’s hand became a bit colder.

The alpha cop still seemed taken aback, eyes darting from Aomine to his colleagues before falling back on Mayuzumi. “Stealing someone else’s omega?” he attempted.

Seijuro felt like puking. Kise’s grip became far too tight, almost bruising, but he let him be. Momoi breathed in suddenly, but Kuroko in front of them stiffened completely.

Mayuzumi’s other hand grabbed Wakamatsu’s shirt, as if like that he could get a better grip on the man’s brain and show him the light it so clearly lacked.

“He’s a fucking person, you bastard!”

Chihiro didn’t like Akashi, at all. He was spoiled and blind and insufferable and he so clearly thought he was the best in the fucking universe; but those were all things only a _person_ could do. Not a bloody _thing_. He was a person like every other omega around. _Reo_ was a person; and Mayuzumi couldn’t stop thinking that if he and Tetsuya hadn’t make it in time just some weeks before, now he would be the one asked to press charge for _theft_. Not assault, not aggression, fucking _theft_.

His blood was boiling and he could feel the alpha in his mind roaring and snarling, his fangs elongating slightly against his bottom lip. He had always been bad at suppressing his instincts when his family was involved, he was not fucking Tetsuya who could probably keep a blank face through a panic attack, so he was half furious but also half relieved when Aomine grabbed him from behind and pulled him off Wakamatsu before he could punch the lights out of him.

“Calm down!” Tetsuya’s friend ordered when he hissed against the cop now massaging his throat.

“My, my, what’s happening here?” Even Akashi from his distance could see Aomine curse under his breath when another officer joined them, a tall man with black hair and _possibly_ eyes, but the omega wouldn’t bet on it because they were firmly closed and hidden behind rectangular glasses. “Is there a problem, Wakamatsu?”

“Nothing, Imayoshi-san,” Daiki was fast to intervene, shooting a glare to his comrade that dared him to object. “The members of the family of the omega that had been assaulted are still a bit in distraught.”

Imayoshi hummed something, tapping his chin with a finger, but there was a strange smile playing on his lips and Kuroko decided it was best to retreat before things get difficult.

“Agent Aomine is right,” he offered then, sharing a look with his cousin as soon as Chihiro turned to him with a shocked expression. “We should really take our leave now, if there’s nothing more…”

“Actually, there is.” Kuroko bit the inside of his cheek, but showed nothing on his face as he approached the group. Imayoshi smiled at him openly. “Some witnesses reported an omega on the run in the area and its description seems to match yours.”

Akashi stiffened, his heartbeat suddenly faster as he took in his surrounding looking for a solution – a voice in his brain screaming for an _escape, escape, escape, you need to run now_ –, but Kuroko didn’t miss a beat.

“ _His_ description-” Tetsuya in fact corrected despite his voice remaining as evenly as always, “-matches Akashi-kun’s because it was him, indeed.”

Kise seemed as lost as Seijuro, and pulled at his hand just a bit, shifting his weight to stand a little bit more in front of him than to his side, like a human shield. Akashi was pretty sure none of those people would have had any hesitation in walking over the omega to get him if that was the objective and tugged him back.

Imayoshi had arched a brow. “Then shall I take that your omega has tried to escape from you? Because in that case, I’ll have to take him with me and to a correctional facility.”

“There’s no need,” Kuroko held his ground, his unreadable eyes battling with the policeman’s invisible ones. “Seijuro has just gotten out of his last heat and his scent is still strong. Since he was supposed to go out with another alpha, today, I gave him my permission to run away if he were to be attacked.” He blinked slowly, his lie perfectly believable. “He was just obeying me as properly, thus I see no reason to have him admitted anywhere.”

Imayoshi looked taken aback by the explanation, but not enough to give up. “You allowed your omega out of heat to go into such a crowded place without supervision and to meet with three alphas like those? It’s a bit irresponsible, if you ask me.”

“I didn’t, actually.” Kuroko retorted easily, a hand moving to lie on Mayuzumi’s arm before the other could make some snarky and compromising remark. “But if it’s relevant to the investigation you’re going to hold, then no, those people are strangers that my omega happened to stumble into during his escape from-”

“-me.” Akashi’s head snapped to a side so fast he thought for a moment he would break his neck, while Kise’s grip was now definitely bruising his arm, but Momoi never looked at him. “I couldn’t help myself,” she said, standing firm as she looked at Imayoshi. “I am sure your witnesses must have seen me chasing after him, too.”

Imayoshi’s eyes finally left Kuroko’s to lay on her. “And who would you be, exactly, for this omega? It’s not common for alphas to share.”

Momoi’s eyes held a thunderstorm when she glared back and hissed a final: “We _don’t_. Akashi-kun and I are old friends-” _Satsuki, don’t!_ “-and Kuroko-san allowed us to meet.”

Akashi gritted his teeth, knowing fully well where this was going to even before the bespectacled alpha answered.

“A friend from before the mating?” Imayoshi’s eyebrows shot up, the perfect display of fake surprise and mocking pretence, “That’s really surprising. Usually omegas are asked to cut all ties with their acquaintances from before the presenting and their mate is not a common knowledge. Actually, I heard the _Akashi_ family kept tight secrecy on the heir’s new owner. How could the two of you meet?”

Akashi had no time to worry about how the officer knew his identity – he probably had heard it taking depositions or he had seen him before, when he was still supposed to inherit one the biggest and most famous economical empire of the world –, because the dread for that slip up was torching his stomach. To her credit, Momoi didn’t even pale at her mistake, but part of the reason was that Kise didn’t give her the time to realize the possible consequences.

“Momoi-san and I worked on a photo-shoot together and she mentioned Akashi-kun,” he slipped in easily, even if clearly a bit awkward with proper names and not his usual ‘–cchi’. “Kuroko-san and my mate have been friends for a long time so I recognized him and worked as an intermediary.” His eyes looked sharper, Akashi noted, just like they did when he had questioned Seijuro in the changing room. If they were to meet just now, the shorter man would probably suppose him an alpha without second thought. “It’s not a crime.”

“It’s not, but I don’t remember questioning you directly, even if I definitely should since you directly hit an alpha.” Imayoshi’s answer was like a whiplash, so sudden Kise almost jerked, his expression at first surprised then offended. “Don’t speak out of turn, omeg-”

“Cut it out, Imayoshi!” Aomine didn’t let him finish, letting go of Mayuzumi to stand openly in front of his colleague, with a threatening expression and a growl at the bottom of his throat. “It’s _my_ omega you’re talking to. Learn some fucking respect or you can discuss this with me.”

The threat wasn’t even subtle and after some seconds of reciprocal assessing, Imayoshi seemed to back off, lifting his hands as if in surrender.

“My my! No need to get this worked up over some little questions,” he said, eyeing Akashi in the group for a moment before looking at Tetsuya again, all with a weird smile plastered on his face. “I was just considering that this story makes for a weak defence, you know.”

Kuroko barely blinked.

“Weak or not, I’ll leave whatever defence we may need to my lawyer, Imayoshi-san, when I’ll press charge against Mister Gold and his friends for _assault_.”

It was just a moment, another one, before Tetsuya broke the fight as gracefully as a swan, bowing with only his head to Imayoshi before declaring himself tired. The cop’s lips stirred in a flat line but he moved aside and showed them the open path before moving beside Wakamatsu to accompany him to one of the cars.

Kuroko was careful to never show the other his back and Aomine motioned them all to join them only when nobody hostile was close anymore. Kise pecked his mate on the cheek as soon as they were close enough to touch and Daiki held his hand for a moment before mumbling something and retaliating with a kiss to the temple.

Akashi looked at them as if deep in study and it took Momoi’s touch on his shoulder to make him realize Kuroko and Mayuzumi were waiting for him to get to the car. She hugged him before he could say anything.

“Kuroko has my number,” she whispered lowly. “I know you’re bossy enough to get him to let you call me every once in a while. I demand once a week at least or I’ll force Ki-chan to show me where you two live.”

It was a brief hug, but one that Seijuro appreciated as he nodded against her cheek, and when it ended Satsuki joined the other couple, asking Kise if he was really still intentioned to go back to work. Akashi was already moving toward the car when he heard the other omega laugh. “I won’t go down with just this much, Momoicchi!” he was saying and Kuroko was looking at them frowning from above the car but said nothing.

Once inside, Akashi realized the ride wouldn’t be easy. Kuroko was behind the steering wheel, Mayuzumi sat silent and arm-crossed beside him and he had been relegated to the backseats. He would normally think that was better than beside Chihiro, but after the display a little before he felt some weird pangs of gratitude rising every now and then to try to convince him the man wasn’t all that bad.

 _“Emotions, ugh. Disgusting!”_ Momoi had once said while mimicking him. He had pushed her, that time, but now he kind of caught himself with those exact thoughts in mind.

 

 

By the time they got home, Kuroko’s eyes had stood on the road the whole time with a single exception, at a red traffic lamp where he tried to call Mayuzumi’s name. Chihiro’s answer had been a laconic “Whatever, Tetsuya. Let’s just go home,” and that had been all. 

Because of that, nobody could complain at Akashi for sighing in relief, silently, while finally opening the door and getting out of the damn car. Kuroko barely got the time to lock it before the entrance door of the house opened to let out a quite distressed Mibuchi – his scent filled Seijuro’s mind, acrid in worry and generally unpleasantly _omega-ish_ – and Murasakibara with a box of mayubo under his arm and a snack in his mouth.

The omega looked hesitant as walked toward them and even more lost when Mayuzumi just hugged his waist out of the blue and breathed on his neck, his shoulders slightly relaxing only now. He shot a look to Kuroko from above his mate’s shoulder, but Tetsuya shook his head and turned to check on Akashi.

Seijuro couldn’t take his eyes off Mibuchi.

Leaving aside the fact that he was honestly handsome, in a precious and kind of feminine way, and that he was taller than his alpha mate, Reo was actually the only other omega with extreme presenting Akashi had ever met. And he was hugging Chihiro out of his own volition, caressing his spine and back and shoulders carefully, as if trying to soothe him.

“Mayuzumi-kun?” Kuroko’s voice was a worried question that received only a cold stiff shoulder as an answer.

Chihiro detached only to stare at Reo before moving to circle the house and leave. “I’ll go take the car,” were his parting words to his cousin and Kuroko’s stiff pose said he was hurt, but he didn’t chase after his relative.

Instead, he turned toward Akashi and the omega saw the morning sky staring back at him tiredly and melancholically.

“Shall we go in?” the alpha asked, “It was a rather eventful day.”

Seijuro didn’t answer, but followed closely as Tetsuya moved toward the entrance. Reo waited for them, big green eyes showcasing a mixture of emotions that still disappeared when Kuroko stopped in front of him.

“Mibuchi-san, may I ask for a favor?”

Reo looked as taken aback as Akashi felt, but nodded anyway, even before knowing what he was being asked to. The trust he laid in Kuroko was close to endless.

Tetsuya smiled a bit to him, before turning to sneak a glance at Akashi. When he turned to the other omega again, he spoke a bit louder. “I do realize that I’m asking much of you, but Akashi-kun was supposed to present an alpha and he hasn’t been introduced to none of the things an omega may need to know about…themselves.” Seijuro observed his mate’s cheeks flush a little in a gentle pink and forgot to blush for himself. “Could you perhaps help him in that regard? If Akashi-kun is okay with that, obviously.”

Both green and azure irises moved gently on him and Seijuro couldn’t say he appreciated the attention, but the chance he was being offered took up his mind too much for him to bother.

He was an omega, he knew he couldn’t deny that much, and he was aware that there were many things he needed to learn about himself, starting from his heats for as much as he didn’t want to and ending with how to muffle his scent. He didn’t know Reo in the slightest, but he was possibly his best shot, considering that like him he had faced the same difficulties coming from irregular cycles. And at the same time…

Akashi’s eyes flashed to the corner Mayuzumi had disappeared behind.

Monopolizing his mate was something he would have done without hesitation before, but after what had happened that day he wasn’t really sure there was a need to _save_ Chihiro’s mate from him. Not to mention, the alpha would sure follow his mate, which meant Seijuro would have had to deal with him just as often and he still wasn’t looking forward for that. He was pretty sure the moment Mayuzumi recovered from his mood, he would be at Akashi’s throat for his behavior.

Kuroko seemed to pick on his indecision and offered an encouraging gaze before letting the phantom of a smile appear and vanish on his lips in the span of a second. 

“Or you could ask Kise-kun, if you’d prefer,” the bastard commented casually. “I’m sure he would love to spend hours talking to you about what he and Aomine-kun-”

“I will gladly accept Mibuchi-san’s help.” Seijuro glared, as harshly as he could, at Kuroko and ignored the giggle escaping from Reo’s lips, hidden behind a hand. He turned to the other omega. “I would hate to impose, though, so feel free to refuse if it is troublesome for you in any way.”

 _If you’re in heat. If Mayuzumi would fight with you for this. If you don’t want to get involved with me and the feud I have with your mate._ There were many reason implied in Akashi’s voice, but Reo shoed them away with a swat of his hand that made him look like some kind of diva.

“I’ll be happy to help as much as I could,” he assured just as the roaring of a car announced Mayuzumi driving carefully toward them. Seijuro couldn’t help but stare for a moment and Reo didn’t miss the chance to caress his temple with the back of his fingers, under the pretense of moving away a wild lock. He had bent to bring his face closer to Akashi’s – and that irked the shorter omega more than a bit –, but his smile was genuine when he added, “Don’t worry, Sei-chan, I’ll make sure to leave Mr Grinch at home next time I come.”

And he bounced away before Akashi could accept the fact that another omega had just _winked_ at him after calling him _Sei-chan_. He stood there blinking for all the time it took the car to vanish out of the alleyway and into the main street. In the end, he looked at Kuroko as if asking for an explanation, a brow dignifiedly arched.

Kuroko’s blank face was obviously in its place, but in the little wrinkles at the side of his eyes Seijuro read amusement and in the way the eyelids were slightly dropped stood clear exhaustion.

“Let’s get inside?” he offered, as if scared that the minimal apparent-order could give the start to another fight.

Akashi knew it normally would, but today he was tired too and nodded, following once more.

 

 

Murasakibara looked at them as if they were little kittens found in the rain and took their jackets offering a maiubo in exchange. Unable to refuse, Kuroko got one while Akashi found himself with even two snacks before the beta disappeared somewhere within the house. 

“He hides his secret stash of sweets in the greenhouse,” Tetsuya offered as the both of them awkwardly walk into the entrance, lingering in front of the stairs leading to their _separate_ bedrooms.

“How is that secret?” Akashi didn’t know why he was answering, but he was sure the silence wasn’t something he needed right now. His head was spinning again now that he was inside, where Reo and his stress-tainted scent had waited for more or less a couple of hours, and the phantom touches of Gold and his men were still tingling on his skin.

Kuroko faced him with a serious expression. “Please, don’t tell him I know. He has some delicious vanilla candies.”

For some reason, the idea of Tetsuya stealing candies from the huge Murasakibara made Akashi smile a bit despite the tension in his shoulders. It didn’t stop him from answering, “I guess it depends on how much Kuroko is willing to pay me.”

“Akashi-kun is a leech. And a blackmailer.”

“Worse, I’m a businessman.”

Kuroko actually _groaned_ , as if the word alone brought terrible memories to his tired mind, but ended up crossing his arms before his chest.

“So? What does Akashi-kun demand for his silence?” he asked, in all seriousness.

Seijuro thought for a moment about exploiting their little playful banter for something big or a sarcastic remark, but decided against it. That was probably the friendliest they had ever been since his arrival and he didn’t want to ruin it after all. “I will be silenced with a weekly call to Momoi. And I’ll take the leisure to let you now that your refusal would apparently mean she’ll come here ready for war.”

Kuroko’s eyes shone for a moment, still playful, but then he sighed, surprising Akashi. He had just tried to make a joke but maybe it had been taken the wrong way? Satsuki always told him his sense of humour ‘ _sucked_ ’, to quote her.

Lowering his eyes, Tetsuya’s gaze fell on the fingertips prints bruised in Seijuro’s arms, left free by his rolled sleeves, and almost instinctively he outstretched a hand to touch those marks. He managed to catch himself just in time, before breaking a barrier that had made Akashi’s shoulders go stiff once more, and instead retreated the limb and searched once more for eye contact. Seijuro unrolled his sleeves.

Kuroko honestly wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, but there were more important matters at hand.

He addressed Akashi in a gentle tone, "I have a first aid kid. Let me tend to where you're hurt."

Seijuro just looked at him arching a brow and then slowly and deliberately let his gaze fall on the marks on Tetsuya's skin, on his face and arms and probably on those hidden by his clothes – and his eyebrow was surrounded by dried blood but his lip was still bleeding a bit – before looking him in the eyes again.

Kuroko huffed, apparently offended. "I never said I didn't need it too."

 

 

All in all, Akashi was not in such bad conditions. They had moved to the library and Kuroko had tried to insist to check on Seijuro’s face first – apparently they shared a split lower lip, now, despite the omega never really noticing before it was pointed out to him – but all he needed was ice on his bruised lips and _previously_ bleeding nose. 

Tetsuya, on the other hand, needed a literal mountain of plasters. On his forehead, on his neck, on his wrists. Seijuro had made him try a couple of exercises to see if he may had broken ribs, but it seemed his trunk was okay.

And just like that they were sitting at a table, looking at each other with nothing to say.

 _How ironic, considering how much we should talk about._ For the first time Akashi’s thoughts were melancholic, not angry or desperate, just a bit lonely perhaps. Surely lost, even if he refused to admit that.

It was like the ground all around him had suddenly imploded on itself, leaving him standing on a precarious pillar of dirt to look at some unknown land too far from him to reach. And Kuroko, sitting in front of him and playing with a roll of gauze, engrossed in his thoughts, was the only bridge Akashi had to the rest of the world. A bridge the building of which had caused the same implosion that left him alone.

What a stupid metaphor.

Seijuro laid his hands on the armrest of his chair and with inhuman effort pushed himself once again to his feet. He felt like the weight of the world was resting on his shoulders, but looking at Tetsuya… He looked like the world had flat out crushed him.

“You should get some rest,” he commented, without thinking, and before he could realize what kind of useless obviousness he had said – and why had he even bothered?! – Kuroko had already gently grabbed his wrist.

Or better, the cuff of his turtleneck, because he wouldn’t hurt Seijuro any more than how he was already.

His eyes were begging, from an apathetic face that was slowly shaking in a silent “ _No_ ”.

“We should talk, we should have already done it. What happened today was the consequence of our own stubbornness. If we had just cleared up things since the beginning, it might have gone differently,” the alpha murmured, just to then frown at the omega, “Also, please, do not assume you’re looking any better than me, Akashi-kun.”

And while rolling his eyes at the last statement, Seijuro found himself stiffening, but also agreeing. They really should have had a talk, discuss about what the whole agreement meant to each other.

He should have told Kuroko what he was _not_ willing to do, no matter what.

He sat down again and took a deep breath. It had never been easy, to talk about his sexuality. In a world like theirs, it was simply unnatural for an alpha and fell short of a death sentence for an omega – and what was he? –. Coming out to Momoi had been one of the hardest things Seijuro had ever done, one night in his dorm room, with her soft arms around him and his face against her chest, trembling with the effort not to let a single tear out no matter what, because the Akashi didn’t cry, they weren’t _unnatural_ , they had sex and children and carried the family name with honor.

And he had to do it again now, to a little more than stranger like Tetsuya.

“I-”

“I know you are asexual.”

In the silence that followed, Seijuro could have heard a needle falling.


	12. Chapter 12

 

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

 

Akashi’s eyes shot open.

There was a whistle in his ears, continuous like a missing heartbeat, and everything else came muffled to his brain, from the scent of disinfectant to the sound of Kuroko's slow breathing. Even the Alpha's expression was somehow fuzzy at the edges, even if it was clear that the man was looking at him head on, no mask to cover his sorry expression or the regret in his eyes or the pleading still hanging unsaid from his soft lips.

Akashi knew he was detaching from reality and for a moment he contemplated letting it happen. A soothing voice invited him to fall into slumber and he recognized it from long nights spent working on assignments for both his father and school. But his current body could never try to get his father's praise anymore and Kuroko was the one to hold his future in his hands.

Kuroko, who had respected his asexuality even during heat, who had lied to the police to cover up for him, who was now staring at him so deeply he seemed to be trying to bore a hole in his face.

When Akashi came back to reality, the whistling in his ear dying down, Kuroko was taking a deep breath. "I'm sor-"

"Spare me." He hadn't meant to be so harsh, but his words still came out in a spit.

Kuroko had the decency to obey. Silent, he stared at his companion, but Akashi refused to look at him and instead focused his gaze on the first aid kit on the table just beside them. He realized he had been gripping the armchair armrest only when the brown leather creaked under his fingernails.

Kuroko stared at Akashi's hand slowly letting go of the chair to lock in a fist against it. His whole arm was trembling with the strength in his wrist and his eyes were blazing with...something. Rage, sure, partially, but also something else.

Slowly, almost guardedly, Seijuro shifted.

He adjusted himself on his seat, but made no move to leave and Kuroko had never felt that relieved in his life.

"You have _no_ idea,-" Akashi hissed immediately, admonishing, "-how much it's taking me not to get out of here, go back to my room and lock myself in to never, _ever_ , see your face again."

Kuroko didn't answer that; he just nodded silently and waited for Seijuro to find some kind of thread to hold on among his tumultuous thoughts, a white rabbit’s path to get out of the chaos that’s shaking his world to the core. Just who is the villain now?, whom is he supposed to stay wary of? He gulped to try to swallow the bad feeling closing up his throat. Whom could he still _trust_?

“Did Momoi tell you?” he asked first, even if he knew the answer already, because there was only one person in the whole world he had ever shared that secret with. He searched for Kuroko’s eyes with his. “About my asexuality.”

Tetsuya looked hesitant, maybe unsure about betraying his source, but he too must have known that Akashi didn’t really need a confirmation, so he just nodded, silent but never breaking eye contact.

Akashi blinked. The secret that could have ruined his reputation had he been an Alpha and the one that could cost him his life now that he had turned out to be an Omega, shared like that without his knowledge, without his control. Satsuki, his most trusted companion, had given it away to the very person she should have been the most guarded from. If Tetsuya had been different, if he had been anything like Imayoshi or Akashi’s father himself-

“Akashi-kun.” He almost hissed when he was addressed and his hands clenched again on the armrests of his seat, but Kuroko refused to back down and instead leaned forward a bit, laying his elbows on his thighs and entwining his fingers. Tetsuya sighed for a moment, almost inaudibly. “I know I can only give you my word and it must mean little to you, but I promise Momoi-san had no intention of betraying your trust.” Akashi bit his tongue not to interrupt. “Mayuzumi-san-”

“ _Figures_ he had to be involved.” And goodbye to all propositions not to interrupt.

Kuroko was kind enough to ignore his venomous comment. Indeed, Akashi thought he had seen something like a sad smile arching the corners of his mouth of a millimetre, but it had been so fast in coming and going he couldn’t be sure. 

“Mayuzumi-san–,” Tetsuya resumed, never changing his tone, as matter-of-factly as he always was, “–knew the two of you were friends so I contacted her to try to understand why you seemed so… _closed off_.”

“Oh, I wonder,” Seijuro’s voice was velvet but dripping in the most deadly poison any snake on Earth could make. He was leaning against the backrest of his seat, but it seemed a move made more out of a desperate desire to be the furthest possible from his alpha than a relaxed pose. “It was probably completely unrelated to the fact you had just offered my father a huge amount of money to _buy me_.”

Kuroko seemed to accuse the hit because he straightened up, leaning against his own seat backrest and giving more room for Akashi to _breath_.

This was not how it was supposed to go, not, not, _no_ , but words were spilling out his mouth as he felt them deep in his bones and Tetsuya was kind and gentle, but he had _bought_ him and why would he do something like that if he had no use for his _purchase_?! Old fears came back to knock at his mind and the omega bit his tongue again, this time just to hold in the instinct – _disgusting, natural, humiliating_ – of whimpering and throwing himself on the floor and begging his alpha for forgiveness, hoping this time he wouldn’t be left on his own when his next heat hit. 

He went perfectly still instead, but even he could smell his scent filling the air with distress and Tetsuya’s expression seemed pained and worried. He strived to calm down, but mentally he cringed against his complete lack of control over his own body.

“Momoi-san came to threaten me.” Akashi jerked and he knew - he wasn’t an idiot - that Kuroko’s words were meant for him to forget whatever had made him so stressed, but he still accepted the anchor, if begrudgingly, the same way he accepted the faint vanilla scent that reached out to him, soothing and discrete. The thought of Satsuki hissing death promises to his alpha was both believable and somehow familiar, and Seijuro let it sink slowly. _That_ was the reaction he had hoped to see both the times he had met her since he had been sold and, gods, it felt relieving to know he hadn’t gotten it just because she had already exhausted her rage in another moment. “She was really explicit in her hatred for me, actually. I think I wouldn’t have been brave enough to drink anything she would have offered me, with the looks she was giving me. She seemed one step away from slipping poison in my glass.”

Akashi didn’t comment on that, but he waited for the alpha to continue and his scent was slowly fading from around them. Tetsuya dispersed his. 

“She made some extremely wrong assumptions about my expectations of you and of this…arrangement of ours–,” Kuroko continued, shaking his head as if to chase away the thought, “–and in her rage she let it slip that you were asexual.” He lets out a little smile, almost fond, “She does care a lot for you, doesn't she?”

Tetsuya didn’t seem to be waiting for an answer, but Akashi shrugged anyway. She did, he knew that, but a tiny bit of anger was aimed at her too now, at her mistake that had given Kuroko such a big head-start on him. The alpha seemed to notice because he sighed.

“Akashi-kun,–” he called, serious, “–I’ll be honest: I hadn’t even considered the option before her revelation. It was enlightening and it allowed me to act as well as I could around you, especially when your heat came. Your anger is justified, I agree, for when I first met you I already knew of you personal things I wasn't suppose to, and I apologize for that. But I beg you not to be angry at Momoi-san. She only meant good, it was her attempt to protect a friend, alpha or omega had nothing to do with that if not for the implications of what your father was expecting." He smiled, albeit sadly. “And I apologize again, because when I accepted the deal I didn't consider your feelings on the matter. I assumed you would have been glad not to have to mate, but I didn't realize that I wasn't much different from any jailer. I took for granted that I knew your thoughts and it wasn't my place to.”

Seijuro blinked, once then twice then thrice, mainly because he could feel the weight of the tongue in his mouth and it felt impossible to lift to articulate even a single word. Not that he was asked to, because Kuroko frowned, as if remembering something suddenly.

Indeed, he bit his lower lip for a moment before adding, as if on second thought. “Also, _that_ is what I’m sorry for, but there’s one thing I’d like you to know, if you’d want to believe me.” He stood straighter in his seat, he and his plasters and bruises, and looked straight into Akashi’s eyes. “I did _not_ contact your father to buy you; if anything, your father contacted me and some other alphas. I knew some of them and I’ll admit I acted… _rashly_ … at the thought of you in their hands. I’m still sorry for accepting a trade like you were an object, but that seemed to be the best option at the moment.”

That, Akashi hadn’t expected. Well, not exactly. He was sure his father had been the one to choose whom to disclose the news of his second gender to, but he hadn’t expected him to openly offer his son around. Now he could see the naivety in his reasoning: all his father cared for was getting rid of him as soon as possible; the little dignity of being looked for instead of being gifted around like old food, with an expiration date to be mindful of, was something Masaomi surely hadn’t bothered allowing to that disappointment of a son.

He had assumed the Kuroko family had been chosen among the interested because of its secluded yet noble status. Rumour had it the Kuroko clan used to be neck deep in the politics on national _and_ international level, but it removed itself from the spotlight many years ago, before Seijuro’s birth, so it wasn’t that influential anymore while still holding prestige and wealth enough for reporters not to have the guts or the means to sneak into their properties just to steal some pictures of the omega Akashi heir. Quite some luck for his father to receive an offer from them, Seijuro had thought, but he should have known better than believing Masaomi would rely on luck alone. His goal had probably always been to get the Kuroko clan to buy him, all the others had probably been just a bait to get the good-heartened heir to fall for the trap.

Mayuzumi’s overprotectiveness of Tetsuya looked much more justified now. The guy really hadn’t in him to abandon anybody, no matter the cost for himself, so no wonder Chihiro had been so angry and wary of Akashi: differently from his cousin, he surely had to have realized the trick.

He felt torn between sighing in exasperation and throwing something at Tetsuya. His idiocy literally knew no bounds.

Before he could decide on which of the two, though, Kuroko shook his head to himself and took a deep breath. He wasn’t done speaking, clearly, but his introduction surprised Seijuro.

“I have only one word, Akashi-kun,–” he stated, just as firm as he had been in ordering Nash to let go of him, or in defying Imayoshi, “ _this_ I want you to know. When I said during the heat that I wouldn't do anything you didn't want, touching or mating or whatever else, I meant it and it still is up. I won't, ever. But I meant it just as much when I said I would take you as my mate and take care of you. Even if we're not physically bonded, I still consider you my one and only mate. And unless you clearly tell me you want this to change, I will keep on considering myself yours.”

Akashi listened with a myriad of shifting emotions. At first there were still some remnants of rage, because really all of those closest to him conspired behind his back, but he could not deny how much they obviously cared, _even_ _Kuroko_. He was aware not many Alphas would devote themselves to an omega who refused to physically mate, let alone put themselves in harm's way for said omega, yet Kuroko always knew and acted anyway. Second, came wariness.

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?” he asked.

The nights of the past month, spent half awake and half in such a light sleep it couldn’t be called rest at all, victim of a fear he couldn’t counter, staring at his lock-less door as he waited for someone to burst in. He had had _nightmares_ about what his alpha could have done to him for weeks. He had screamed in his pillow not to let anyone know about his weakness. He had destroyed half his clothes ripping them with his bare hands just because he could smell his old home’s scent all over them and he had resented how much he missed the place that had been his cage for so long and the man to whom he had had value only until the moment he had presented.

Why hadn’t he been told all of this? Why had they let him hiss and growl and think everybody was his enemy? Momoi or Kuroko, it would have been enough for them to tell him the truth, to talk to him. Was he not worth the effort, now that he was an omega? Did they consider him too stupid to understand their alpha reasoning?!

Third came a tiny bit of regret for his own assumptions. But it was tiny, hidden under layers and layers of annoyance for being kept in the dark for so long.

Kuroko looked almost sheepish as he replied, "I had hoped you would speak to me first about your preferences.” _Oh._ But the alpha shook his head almost immediately. “It was foolish of me, obviously you would keep that hidden considering how things are; it was just too dangerous and you didn’t even know me, let alone trust me enough to risk being repudiated. I really should not have expected such a sacrifice from you, after you already had to give up your home and previous life, in a way because of me." 

“I didn't sacrifice them," Akashi corrected immediately, “they have been taken away from me. I had no choice to begin with.” He saw Kuroko jerking slightly, probably imagining how the talk would turn into another fight, but Seijuro was tired, really tired, and surprised him. “That's why I guess I should thank you for giving me one.” 

Tetsuya gaped, like a fish, and it would’ve been hilarious if not for the awkwardness now permeating the air.

Akashi sighed as silence stretched. Kuroko had said his part; he knew it was now his turn. But honestly, what did he want now? He was not sure he knew anymore.

He was aware of how hypocritical he had been. While against the oppression of omegas, before his presenting he had never really acted upon that. He had always supposed he would take an omega and treat them _differently_ , the way they deserved as humans, but never he had considered how useless it would have been to save one person alone without changing the system. Yet, he hadn’t just hated alphas since when he’d turned out to be an omega; he had somehow even before, when he was supposed to be one of them and went trough lessons and lessons and all those alpha teachers were only good at telling him how to act and how to speak and how to think and how to offer his hands to their sticks when he refused to. All the time, Momoi had always been his only friend, but now... Did he hate Kuroko? Did he hate Aomine and Chihiro? 

Well, maybe Chihiro a bit.

 _Chihiro aside_ , Akashi thought, perhaps, if circumstances had been different, he and Kuroko could have been friends. Was that still an option now? Part of him really wanted to fall into a fit of rage and storm away now, but the other kept on asking him if he really wanted to live his life this way. Trapped in a mansion. Babysitter whenever he was outside. Barely on speaking terms with his mate. He didn't want to submit, but then again, Kuroko didn’t expect that anyway, apparently.

The main question was, did he trust Kuroko’s words and his promise about what he expected of their mating?

Did he have any reason to doubt him?

“I do not hate you,” Akashi decided finally. “But I also do not want to stay trapped here. I know what happened today was terrible,–” he shuddered instinctively, “–but I want my freedom. Some part of my life that does not have to go through you. Now you touch even my relationship with Momoi and–”

“I didn't mean for that to happen,” Kuroko interjected, almost worriedly, “I swear this wasn't my intention in any way. She really does care for you so, please, don’t ruin your friendship because of me.” 

Akashi rolled his eyes plainly. As if he would ever consider doing something like that; or as if Momoi would ever _allow_ him to cut her out of his life. Kuroko still didn’t know their relationship that well if he thought it could be so easily broken.

"Also,–” Kuroko added, “–I get what you mean, you deserve your freedom and I want you to have it, but...” The alpha looked away for a moment and his eyes fell on the first aid kit on the table, beside them, “If anything like today were to happen, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself.” Akashi's eyes were firm on Kuroko's frame as the man shook his head a bit. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

“You barely know me,” Akashi protested, instinctively. There was something tugging at his chest, not exactly painfully but in a way that made him almost squirm on his seat – almost, because he still used to be an Akashi and he held himself perfectly still –. “What you feel is just your alpha protective and territorial instincts, and nothing more. I don't want that.”

 _What do you want, then?_ Akashi ignored the voice in his head, mostly because it sounded suspiciously like Momoi’s.

Kuroko sighed, but looked up to meet Seijuro’s eyes. “Regardless of what you believe, while that plays a part, I _do_ care about your wellbeing.” He bit his lips and his eyebrows furrowed, just a tiny bit but enough to make him look pouting and deep in thoughts. “Perhaps... Perhaps I can leave my scent on you without physically mating? It’s not ideal, but you could go outside in relative safety. And I'd like you to have a cell phone for extra precaution.”

Akashi blinked. That was... _unexpected_ at best. But he wouldn't be a genius if he let himself be distracted by surprise. A cellphone. Momoi back in his life and a contact with the world. Kuroko's scent on him sounded dangerously similar to an admission of weakness but if he considered it like a disguise it was not that bad. But... "How do you plan on leaving your scent on me?" he asked.

Kuroko blushed a bit and scratched his cheek with his pointing finger. “I guess things like embraces would suffice for little amounts of time. If we need something longer you could, uh, sleep in my room?” He must have noticed Akashi’s flinch, because he hurried in correcting. “Only if you’re not uncomfortable with it, obviously, and only when you plan on staying out for quite a long time.” He lifted a brow. "Maybe we could share clothes, but I don't know if my scent would still linger after they are washed..."

Seijuro almost felt left behind, unable to follow all the new developments of the situation. Would Kuroko _really_ give all those things to him?, allow him all that freedom? If he were told that whole situation was a dream he would have less troubles believing it. The tug in his chest was getting more insistent, demanding, and it pushed against his inner walls to tear them down.

He wasn’t sure he felt ready to bear himself to Tetsuya _that much_ , yet, thus he did the only thing he could think of and averted his eyes with nonchalance as he shrugged. “Your clothes wouldn't fit me, I'm taller.”

“No, you're not.” The flash in Kuroko’s eyes was the same he had that very morning, when Murasakibara had called him short.

Akashi arched a brow, because while expecting a reaction he hadn’t thought Kuroko would deny such an obvious truth. “Yes, I am.”

“No, you're not.”

“How stubborn!”

Kuroko huffed, the smallest show of irritation Akashi had ever seen in his whole life. “If you find the rest of my clothing _inadequate_ , –” he stated with a hint of petulance at the bottom of his voice, “–perhaps my coat. It's naturally meant to be bigger and will not need to be washed often.”

Akashi couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit excited. This was more than he could have hoped for when he had presented, and Kuroko... He was not so bad when he wasn’t just ‘the alpha’.

A cell phone, freedom to do what he wished without submission, even a friendly relationship with his mate. Could he really hope for all that? It seemed too good to be true after the past weeks. If it was, the only thing missing from making him a full fledged normal citizen was basically just...

Kise’s face popped in his mind for a second before disappearing just as fast.

“Perhaps not immediately,–” He almost stopped. He could hear the tentative note in his own voice, but he couldn’t erase the bit of worry in his mind telling him he was maybe pushing it too far, that maybe Tetsuya wasn’t _that_ progressive and he should just be content with what he had. Luckily, he had grown good at ignoring it. “–but someday, I would like a job. My own income.”

He was ready for everything, actually, after this.

Kise’s situation was revolutionary to say the least. Sure, there were a few modelling omegas, but they were usually poor souls that had been rejected by their mates and ended up half naked on the covers of gravure magazines with no real choice; it was always better, after all, that being sold to a brothel or being stuck in a correctional facility, Akashi knew that much. But Ryouta was where he was out of his own volition; he appeared on the main magazines, sporting the best brands and a dazzling smile, and his mate, with all the faults Aomine had, was _supportive_ of him. Alphas looked at Kise like some kind of curiosity, a unique case to look at for their own amusement, but to Akashi, and probably a lot of other omegas, he was a tiny light in the mess of their world, an hope, an _exception_.

Still, exceptions had the peculiarity of being _rare_.

Kuroko eyed him, though, and blinked, but didn’t react any worse. “That's unexpected,–” he admitted after some seconds, but in the end he smiled, “–but I guess I can understand. I, myself, work. It gives a good feeling to be able to provide for yourself, doesn't it?”

Akashi was surprised at the newfound knowledge, mainly because the Kuroko family was apparently only slightly less rich than the Akashi and Tetsuya didn’t have the little problem of being sold by his own father, so why would he choose to work? He had an office in the house and Seijuro hadn’t seen him going anywhere outside in the past month, so he had assumed he just managed the finances of his companies from home. Did he have another kind of occupation, too?

Normally, he would keep his questions for himself and store the little stolen information for later investigations, he would try to prevent this from getting too much intimate and giving the alpha any chance to get something out of him, but Tetsuya seemed open and they were trying to have a mature, kind of adult, talk, right? 

Thus, he simply asked. “What do you do?" They could still try to make this work, right? As a friendship, at least.

Kuroko smiled softly, his eyes showing appreciation and gratefulness as if he had been able to read Akashi’s thoughts one by one. Seijuro almost told him he had changed his mind and didn’t want to know; he wasn’t sure he was okay with this expressive side of Tetsuya playing tricks to his chest. 

“I teach in an elementary school not far from here,” the alpha said before he could indeed act upon his latest decision. He shrugged. “Well, more like supplying in when some of the teachers are ill or have to tend to omegas in heat, relatives or mates. This way my schedule usually comes in quite suddenly, but it’s flexible enough. I like kids, and I enjoy helping them learn, so it’s not trouble at all.” 

It was…not as surprising as Akashi would have thought. Kuroko had a soft and gentle demeanour, the patience to be with kids, and he supposed the occupation made sense even if it was not typical of an Alpha, more like Beta’s. Also, he thought with a little bit of malice, he probably had a lot of practice handling Chihiro, Murasakibara, Aomine and Kise on his own.

(Akashi refused to add himself to the list. He had not acted like a brat. Absolutely. He was completely in the _right_ , therefore not childish.) 

He was so deep in his pondering that he almost missed Kuroko's question, but not quite. “Do you know what career you would like to pursue?” 

Akashi had to admit he hadn’t thought _that far_ ahead. He had expected Kuroko to put up more of a fight, if anything regarding his safety if he were to go out regularly and get a job.

He found out, he was at a bit of a loss, wondering what he would _like_ to become. He had never really thought about it because his path had been set in stone the day he was born and his whole life had been spent preparing for that goal, but now the stone had broken and what was he left with? He liked shogi, but becoming a professional player required time and a lot of money, and he didn't want to depend on Kuroko, definitely the opposite, so it was impossible for now. Also, his father wouldn't let him get into business or whatever outstanding position in the financial world: Masaomi wanted him to disappear completely and he would do anything to prevent his name from emerging ever again. 

What else was he good at? Well, _everything_ , he had been trained for that. But what did he _want_ to do?

“I like horse-riding,” slipped out of his lips in a murmur, and it was stupid and embarrassing and a really childish thing to say but his voice grew softer anyway at the thought of Yukimaru. He had had to leave his companion behind when he was taken away and she was, together with his mother’s altar, one of the only two things he would want to go back home for. “I would like to work in that field.”

It was almost inebriating to realize he could chose to do something without caring if it was outstanding enough – enriching enough – for his father or worthy of his family name. Working with horses… Masaomi would have killed him if he were to hear him express such a thought, but Masaomi wasn’t in the picture anymore and Seijuro _loved_ that.

He would have to start from nothing almost, he knew, but he was sure that would make him happy.

Kuroko’s eyes widened with the slightest bit of surprise, but then his whole demeanour softened with warmth.

“I have an idea,” he offered gently. “The school where I work offers a program for children with troubled home lives. It’s nothing more than after school activities like sports and music, to keep them in a safe space and give them a way to relax or let out their feelings. Because we received some founds recently, our committee has thought of adding a new option. Do you think you could teach others how to ride? Perhaps put on demonstrations? I know there are stables close by the main wing of the school, actually, and while I think we could afford to rent them, I’ll admit it would help us greatly to have a trusted teacher to take care of the lessons.” 

Akashi almost recoiled, shocked. One thing was to cave in easily; another was to help him find a job effectively. Kuroko wasn’t holding back with the surprise attacks, that night.

In the end, “Thank you” was his answer, but the way his voice trembled slightly, out of his control, let the other know there was far more beyond those two poor words.

Kuroko smiled to him, a little gesture that made him look quite younger and finally at ease, far from the cold tension he had worn the past month, and it was quite different, cute, and their stomachs growled.

Blushes and discomfort quickly follow, but after a moment Kuroko inserted, “I suppose we both skipped lunch.” Akashi almost _snorted_ , as the memory of a traumatized waiter resurfaced to his memory. “Are you okay with just sandwiches today?”

Kuroko was already getting up and making his way to the kitchen to follow through with his suggestion, but he didn’t leave before offering his omega _the arm_ , like a proper gentleman. Akashi looked at him bewildered for a moment, even more as he stood up and the _five inches_ he had on the alpha were even more obvious, and in the end he couldn’t help it.

He smirked, ignoring Tetsuya’s arm with a shake of his head but following him to help with lunch.

Kuroko was turned to him as he held the handle, but he had barely opened his lips, maybe to add something, when there was a hard push against the door and a big bundle of black slipped in too fast for Akashi to register its shape.

Under Seijuro’s widened eyes, the bundle tackled Kuroko’s legs and started jumping around him with excited barks and a notable amount of spit. “Nigou! No, down!”

One kneeling Kuroko and a disgusting display of face liking later, the bundle assumed the shape of an husky dog, clearly young but still big enough to reach his master’s waist, tail wriggling and eyes bright.

Akashi still remembered the day Kuroko brought his pet to the veterinary and therefore showed up to pick him earlier than planned and the moment Reo had apparently taken the dog as some kind of blackmailing for Mayuzumi, but he hadn’t paid much mind to the fact that he hadn’t seen him around before. Now he wondered why Kuroko had separated himself from him since he looked so happy cradling the creature in in his arms.

“What are you even doing here?” he was saying, indeed, ignoring the bark he got as answer to turn to Akashi himself, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure if you were okay with dogs so I had Mibuchi-san picking him up from the vet and keeping him for a while.” He shot a look at the dog. “He should have been in the backyard, actually. I didn’t mean for him to jump on you suddenly.” 

Kuroko’s pet seemed to have exhausted his excitement for his master, for he suddenly turned to check on Akashi. He tried to wriggle out of the grip holding him and Tetsuya tried to stop him wrapping his noodle arms around the massive neck of the beast, but Seijuro instinctively reached out to his shoulder.

He realized almost too late he had initiated a physical contact with his alpha for the first time since they had met, and judging from Kuroko’s expression he had too. He retreated his hand suddenly, as if burned, and he instinctively bit his tongue, but ignored the disbelieving look sent his way to bend forward at the waist.

Nigou looked at him straight in the eyes and leaned forward to sniff at the hand he was offering. He gave an attempting lick to the palm, as if to gauge Akashi’s reaction, and Seijuro couldn’t help but smile.

The dog had two big pale blue eyes, the most beautiful Akashi had ever seen, that stared at him in excitement and that was all the warning the omega got before being pounded in by an heavy medium sized beast. He hoofed and fell backward, on his bottom, and Nigou was immediately on his face, barking and licking and nuzzling his face against Seijuro’s chest.

Kuroko seemed frantic. He grabbed Nigou’s collar and pulled him back, and the dog was clearly well trained because he immediately sat back and released his new friend from his powerful affection. His scolding sounded weak even to Akashi’s ears, as he ran a sleeve on his face and pushed himself up on his feet, and when he looked at the two he realized the alpha wasn’t even looking at the dog, but at him.

“What?”

Kuroko blinked, a hand still dug into Nigou’s fur. “You were chuckling.”

 _What?_ “I wasn’t.”

“Yes, you were.” The corners of the alpha’s mouth lifted a bit, almost imperceptibly but still enough to give some kind of smugness to his impassive face. “It was quite endearing.”

Akashi’s glare was deadly poisonous. “I. Was. Not,” he hissed, “And I’m not _endearing_ , either.” 

He almost snarled when Kuroko _rolled his eyes_ at him, but they didn’t have the time to turn that into the umpteenth fight, for a certain big figure filled the whole frame of the door.

“Kuro-chin, Nigou–,” he started, blinking lazily when he saw the dog swinging his tail happily at Kuroko’s and Akashi’s feet, “–likes Aka-chin?”

Akashi huffed, but Kuroko smiled as he nodded. “So it seems, Murasakibara-kun.”

Atsushi nodded to himself. He brought a maiubo to his mouth and bit into it as his eyes moved to Seijuro slowly. “Kuro-chin always falls asleep when Nigou nuzzles his shins.”

“Are you trying to help Akashi-kun escape again, Murasakibara-kun? I would rather _avoid_.” Kuroko frowned. “Which reminds me, I should call Aida-san later to discuss the matter of pressing charge against Gold. She should be able to take care of the matter on her own without taking us to trial.”

Akashi was surprised when he saw the big beta frown too, letting out an annoyed huff. “Is she coming _here_?” he asked, petulantly, but Kuroko ignored him to look at Seijuro.

“Aida-san is the best lawyer I know,” he said, his voice low and reassuring and his hand running through Nigou’s fur as if he were trying to soothe him. Akashi guesses his alpha instincts were telling him to care for his mate and he was projecting them on the dog to respect his personal space. He appreciated it. “It wouldn’t be safe for us to go to trial, but I’m sure she can scare them enough to give up before we get to that point.”

There was some kind of dark satisfaction fidgeting at the bottom of Kuroko’s irises, playing with the shadows of the pupils, and Seijuro had to admit he was quite glad to hear there would be consequences for his three assaulters to face.

He nodded silently and Kuroko let the topic fall to lead him and Murasakibara – and an enthusiastic Nigou – out of the room and in the kitchen.

 

 

Turned out they didn’t have to life off of sandwiches alone as Atsushi had prepared them a meal worth its name. The beta had no reserves betraying his chief’s inability to cook, whereas the man’s best defence was that he cooked some very good boiled eggs. Akashi stared at Kuroko for a long silent moment until the man popped some mackerel in his mouth and averted his gaze with some kind of pout.

Nigou had chosen Akashi as his favourite pillow and had rested his head on his legs for the whole time, leaving the human to listen to Kuroko explaining that dogs were more friendly and felt more protective of omegas, probably because of their scents, while absentmindedly scratching the pet behind his ear.

The meal went by smoothly, but the exhaustion was still there and though Akashi wasn’t all that excited about finding himself alone with the memories and feelings he had pushed aside during that days’ events, he also felt one step away from collapsing. The clocks on the walls telling him it was barely five in the evening held no meaning to his sore body, therefore he pushed himself to his feet and kind of stumbled to the sink to wash his dishes.

Kuroko seemed just as exhausted and Murasakibara hummed something as he pushed them both out of the kitchen, promising to wash what was left to and swearing – clearly lying – that he wouldn’t give Nigou any leftovers.

Tetsuya pretended to believe him and left Akashi at the bottom of the stairs to move to the library and make that call to his lawyer. Seijuro wondered if he should have come along, but he knew nothing of the girl Kuroko would be dealing with. If she was willing to represent an omega against three alphas she must have been quite a character, and being a lawyer she was surely an alpha, but he wasn’t sure he had it in himself to deal with an interrogation right at the moment. A tactical retreat was the best option, surely.

He didn’t bide Tetsuya goodnight. It seemed quite too much of an intimate gesture, not to mention it wasn’t night at all. He just climbed the steps striving to keep everything out of his mind, but now that he didn’t have anyone to distract him flashes were creeping in through the cracks in his focus.

 _Theft._ The word replayed in his mind and he objectively knew that was all it was, a _word_ , an empty word, but he could still feel it burn him in the back of his neck, like a mark that had been carved in his flesh. He had known how society used to see him, but society was an abstract concept, something bigger and not human. Those who had treated him like a _thing_ that day were real people, individuals that had seen him, known he was human just like them, but ignored it because of his _smell_ and stupid laws. It was a terrifying experience to feel on his own skin.

He slipped into his room fast and turned to close it, for as useless as it would be, but he froze when notice something stuck to the wood.

A note stood in the middle, but to the side, three palms higher than the handle, was a _lock_. One of those manual ones, with the bar sliding to keep the door closed. It wouldn’t have held against Murasakibara’s raw power, but Kuroko, who had the weight of a little bird, would have never been able to break through it.

Seijuro gaped. He turned his head to the note and there stood an elegant if anonymous calligraphy.

**_"I couldn’t pick anything bigger, in case you were to get in heat suddenly, but Murasakibara has been instructed not to break in for any reason different than a threat to your safety. I hope it will help you sleep. -_ ** **_Kuroko Tetsuya"_ **

Akashi took the note down slowly, careful even if unaware, and held it in his hand.

A bark made him jerk in surprise. When he looked down, Nigou’s head was poking in through the half open door and his ears were high as he checked on Akashi with his head bent to a side. Seijuro briefly wondered if the dog was allowed to be upstairs, but then decided that he was a troublesome omega anyway and moved aside to let him in. Nigou woofed happily as he trotted in and Seijuro closed the door behind him. 

With his hand trembling, he tried the lock and the bar slipped in its sleeve easily.

He turned. Staring at Nigou’s eyes, he laid his back against the door and let his body slip until he was sitting on the floor, knees at his chest and nape pressed against the wood. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt fur brushing against his side as the dog moved beside him to sniff at his neck, probably attracted or worried by whatever scent Seijuro was unwillingly releasing and he let the pet do because he was too busy being confused to care.

Because the whole world was trying to tame him, and then there was Kuroko, treating him like a person and some _one_ to protect, and he couldn’t understand and it annoyed him _so much_.

“I hate owing people,” he grumbled to himself, but Nigou barked something in answer.

Akashi decided it was an assent.

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Brief description of violence at the end of the chapter.

 

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

 

Akashi didn’t sleep well that night. He finally succumbed to tiredness, but the events of the day feasted in the deep slumber that the lock on the door, together with the freedom from his instinctive fear of Tetsuya, allowed him.

Gold was in there, and his father too.

Seijuro woke up with a startle in a sweated bed, sheets wrapped around his legs and half his face buried in the pillow, to the whimpers of a dog.

 

 

Aside from the nightmares, Akashi knew he wasn’t acting anywhere differently from the usual; if anything, he was trying to be a bit more civil ad polite to the other people in the house. Still, Kuroko looked at him in worry for days after the accident. He let him call Momoi every day, instead of every week, and she asked him if he was okay every time. Seijuro always smiled a bit and nodded, because nightmares were just that, bad dreams he would eventually always wake up from. 

After the first two days, Murasakibara cooked him tofu three nights in a row. Kise popped up for lunch every now and then, but they stood inside, didn’t go to eat out.

Nigou sneaked into his room every evening, looking worried with his lowered ears, and Akashi by now doubted that Kuroko didn’t know. On the fourth night since the attack, he noticed the alpha ruffling the dog’s ears, in the kitchen, before pointing the stairs to him. A soft “go” and the over-sized puppy was sitting in front of Seijuro’s door.

Akashi knew what it was. For as strong as he had been on the moment, what had happened was meant to catch up to him, and now that he didn’t have the pressure of being on alert against Kuroko his brain was getting its time to process everything, starting with the assault but also his presenting and his father’s behaviour and the loss of everything that used to be his life. Like muscles after a huge effort started trembling when the body relaxed, so his mind was in disarray now that it was free of its most pressing fears.

“ _You should talk to someone, maybe?_ ” Momoi suggested one day, “ _It can’t be good to keep all of this to yourself._ ”

“I’m talking with you.”

“ _Sei–_ ”

“No.”

 

 

Six days from the assault, he woke up to a whimper and hard nails hitting his forearm repeatedly, and the first thing he saw when he finally opened his eyes were big blue eyes staring straight to his soul. 

The first time that had happened, he had thought Tetsuya had broken in his room for a second, before remembering he had locked it.

With a grunt, he pulled himself to his elbows to glare at the culprit of his abrupt awakening, but Nigou wriggled his tail and barked at him once. The clock on his bedside table marked an ungodly hour of that thin line between night and day. Akashi had never been a morning person, despite being forced to wake up early for his lessons almost his whole life, and not even being taken away from his nightmares could make up for the general crankiness that filled him before eight at least. When he looked back at him, the beast dared to pull himself up with a paw on the bed to lick at his face.

“No, down!” Tetsuya had clearly trained his dog well, because he obeyed immediately, but Seijuro still glared at him. “You’re annoying,” he muttered, actually not meaning it, “Cute, but annoying.” _Like your master._

Akashi groaned and sunk back with his face in the pillow, ignoring the dog spit still on his face. Nigou barked as if he found the gesture extremely funny.

Finally, he noticed the soft knocking from the door – probably the reason the husky tried to wake him up – and with a frown he rolled on himself. It wasn’t like Tetsuya to call him in the morning, he usually waited for him to come downstairs on his own. A smart choice, on his part.

“What?” he groaned, hoping to go back to sleep as soon as possible.

Kuroko didn’t even try to open the door and Seijuro smiled a bit, a hand buried deep in Nigou’s fur. “Akashi-kun, the school just called me for a substitution so I need to go. Would you like to accompany me? I already introduced the principal to the idea of your horse riding lessons, but he’d like to meet you and talk to you in person, if that’s okay.”

Akashi’s tired brain sprung into full activity so suddenly he jerked as he sat up. Not even a week since their talk and Kuroko dumped that on him with, what, an hour notice? What the heck was wrong with him?!

“Akashi-kun?”

“I’ll be ready in half an hour,” he promised, already out of bed and undressing.

“Oh, no need to rush, we won’t have to leave before a couple hours more. Feel free to take your time. And Murasakibara-kun is preparing us breakfast, so make sure to have something to eat.”

Akashi was tempted to tell his mate eating was of little importance when he was planning to apply for a job – _he, an omega_ –, but he had a feeling Kuroko would freak out over something like that so he bit his tongue and rolled his eyes while pulling open his wardrobe doors.

Now, what did one wear to get a job he technically couldn’t have by law?

 

 

Kuroko was wearing washed out jeans with a simple black belt and a white buttoned-up shirt. He had _sneakers_ on and his bedhead was atrocious and Akashi felt extremely overdressed. 

“Should I leave the jacket at home?”

Murasakibara gulped a mouthful of whatever unhealthy snack he had been munching on. “Aka-chin is dressed to impress.”

“Stop spending time with Aomine-kun, Murasakibara-kun, _please_.” Kuroko turned on his seat at the kitchen island and took a look at Akashi’s appearance, “The brown kaki pants are okay, but you could take off jacket and necktie.”

“What’s wrong with the necktie?!”

Kuroko blinked. “Akashi-kun, it’s an _elementary school._ ”

“It’s not the children who are going to hire me.”

“What if you’re required to ride?”

Akashi looked deeply offended. “I am perfectly capable to ride even in a tuxedo or in a yukata, I’ll let you know.”

Somewhere close to the fires, Murasakibara snorted. Kuroko rolled his eyes, but offered him a plate to fill and half an hour later they were leaving the house. Without Akashi’s necktie.

 

 

Seijuro had had his suspicions when Kuroko talked to him about children with ‘troubled home lives’ so he wasn’t surprised when the school he found himself in front of revealed itself as an old building in a suburban neighbourhood that made going out at night look like the most stupid idea one could get. It was incomprehensible for him how someone could open a stable in such a place, even more an elementary school, and the smell of manure seemed to only add to the landscape. There was trash abandoned in the street here and there, but Kuroko drove past it without sparing it a glance.

“It’s not as bad as it seems,” he said, probably feeling his mate’s look on him. “At least, for the children this is their whole world so we try to keep it decent enough.”

“Why is nobody reclaiming the area? This shouldn’t be left to itself.”

Kuroko took a turn into a tall iron gate that led them to drive through a little garden, clean and well kept, and in front of a three-stories building with walls of a reassuring teal shade and big windows that gave a peek on walls covered in childish drawings and shelves filled with books. It honestly gave the impression of a little base of some kind of resistance.

“The building at the end of the street is a correctional facility.”

Akashi’s head snapped back immediately, his eyes leaving the building in front of them to look through the backseat window to eye the five stories structure behind the bars of the fence around the school. It looked like a box, a squandered grey box with windows barely as wide as his arm’s length and covered with thick black iron grates. There seemed to be soldiers on the roof, but they were too far for Seijuro to be sure, and there was a tall enclosure of metallic net that created an empty circle of some yards around the building.

“People don’t like to have it here or to see it for all that matters, omegas and children especially,–” Kuroko almost whispered as he reached a little parking lot and stopped there. He placed the car so it pointed in the direction of the facility, “–but the government thought it would be educational for the kids to study close by it, so they could get used to how things work. All of those who willingly hang out around here late are those who really thinks that _thing_ is one fucking great idea.”

It was the first time Akashi heard Tetsuya swear and when he turned to him the alpha’s hands were clenched around the steering wheel and his eyes were fixed on the building and burning with so much ice they seemed to be trying to freeze the whole place in a big ice-berg. The paradox was terrifying and, from Seijuro’s point of view, _mesmerizing_.

“You don’t agree,” he commented, almost off-handedly; striving not to look back at the building.

Kuroko sighed. His grip loosened as he turned to unbuckle his seatbelt. “My father used to be a politician, before I was born. He strived to get those places closed up, but he couldn’t make it before passing away.” Akashi recoiled, eyes widened, but before he could say anything Tetsuya had already opened his door. Before getting off, though, the alpha shot him a sidelong glance. His expression was unreadable, but his words held clear smugness. “I wonder what people will think when they’ll know an omega is teaching horseback riding in a school close to a correctional facility.”

He knew what many of them would probably say, they both did, but Akashi also saw that Kuroko wasn’t referring to alphas alone. He was thinking about the omegas in those houses, forced to look out of their windows and see their future if they ever try to rebel, and about the kids who’ll see the discrepancy in the world around them and would wonder and think and criticize.

Seijuro wasn’t sure Kuroko was doing this _just_ for him, anymore.

“Ready to go?”

He stared at the alpha, standing just outside the car and bending forward at his waist to look inside. He wasn’t moving to open Akashi’s door and that was great because Seijuro would have hit him and that didn’t seem like something proper to an elementary school teacher. Kuroko’s eyes were back to their usual simple warmth, the personification of a hot bath, and in his hand was the coat he had been keeping in his lap the whole ride.

Seijuro took it and opened his own door.

 

 

Who the fuck introduced himself with a song? Akashi couldn’t believe a man like that, with such a simpleton’s face, could be in charge of the safety and education of children. And at the same time there was something in the tall and broad body of Kiyoshi Teppei, alpha by mistake if the attitude he displayed was anything to go by, that made the omega wary or at least determined not to underestimate the other.

Kuroko introduced them briefly and apparently nothing happened, aside from a moment of surprise that the man didn’t even bother to hide but let on his face with a child’s expressiveness. Kiyoshi was a man of _many_ words, usually unconnected and naïve, but he congratulated them both on their mating and seemed not to notice that the scent on Akashi came from his clothes and not his body.

In a little bit, Kuroko had nodded to the both of them and, with a last meaningful look to his omega and a few dry words, had turned and left them to disappear down a corridor, probably to his class. After a second of silence, there was the faint echo of a bunch of children yelling in glee and Kiyoshi laughed.

“The kids love Kuroko-kun,” he explained to Akashi, waving a hand so the omega would follow him, and Seijuro blinked for a second, wondering if he should have worried about his mate after all. In the end, he decided Tetsuya could take care of himself – when it didn’t come to a physical fight – and followed the other alpha back to the exit of the building, “I don’t know how much your alpha told you about the school, but we have been trying to provide the children with as many different options as possible. We have a library with many books and generally all kinds of indoor clubs have been easy to organize, but any outdoor activity and sport is highly discouraged in this area.”

Kiyoshi kept the door open for him to get out and Akashi knew the gesture was too well timed to be a coincidence, so he exited without complaining. The first thing he saw was the outline of the correctional facility.

_If I had a child, I wouldn’t want them anywhere under the sentinels’ eyes either_ , he considered, but kept his expression completely unreadable. Kiyoshi patted a hand on his shoulder, almost praising him, but then led him to a side of the building.

Akashi took a slightly deeper breath when they turned the corner and the facility wasn’t in sight anymore. The knowledge he could be _in there_ for his escapes was still burned deep in his mind, and he didn’t even have any idea of what exactly happened to the prisoners.

“There,” Kiyoshi shook him from his thoughts by pointing to an old locked gate, in iron just as the main one, that connected the school garden to the side of another building the back side of which continued into the structures of horses’ boxes. “An old rich man built this here before the facility was founded. By then, this place had made a good business and there aren’t many stables this close to the centre of the city so many people from the high class usually rely on this structure to take care of their horses or to provide any for eventual social events. Rarely people come all the way here to have a ride and their arena is not that big, but I guess for children’s lessons it would be alright?”

“I need to see the horses.” Akashi eyed the structure and decided that, while nowhere as luxurious as the ones he used to go to as a multimillionaire’s heir, it was well kept. Still he frowned. “It will all depend on if there are any meek enough to work with children."

Kiyoshi nodded. “I talked with the manager and they assured me they have some horses that would be perfect for kids. Also ponies apparently! But again, they cannot provide us with a teacher with enough of a regular schedule to organize lessons since they rely the majority of their incomes on special events. I heard there will be one quite soon, actually, so they’re really busy.”

Akashi almost scoffed. He knew what kind of events: nothing short of a circus where richly dressed omegas would sit to a side, all in all just trophies to expose, while their alphas showed off their newly dusted off skills on the horses and some real professional would make their animals do some tricks for the sake of entertainment. Seijuro used to be the best at horse riding and he had taken part to some of those competitions, mainly to escape the crowd of his father’s friends, but he had always refused to let Yukimaru into any of those activities. His horse was far too worthy for him to let her take part to such a joke.

Kiyoshi didn’t bother going through the acceptance and instead led Seijuro down the side of the building to the horses. A man with glasses was grunting there, shovelling horse’s excrements with a scowl on his face.

When the school principal erupted in a loud “Hyuuga!”, the man jerked and turned to the with an hiss.

“Don’t shout, moron!” he growled, “You’ll scare the horses!”

Kiyoshi looked surprised at the scolding, but Akashi could understand it. When the man’s eyes laid on him, he nodded his head in greeting as he tried to catch his scent through the smell of horse. It took him a while, but in the end he recognized it as Beta.

“Hyuuga Junpei is one of the workers at this place,” Kiyoshi introduced, ignoring the daggers glared at his head by the annoying-looking bespectacled man. “He will show you the most docile horses so you can decide if they’re suited for children.” An squealed and quite offended ‘ _What?!_ ’ went ignored as the principal’s smile slipped off his face to leave room for a serious look. “I would also like to see you at work.”

The shift in tension didn’t go unnoticed as even the beta shut up to check the omega’s reaction, but Akashi was firm and showed no surprise whatsoever. He had been expecting something like this since even before leaving Kuroko’s house, and he knew Kiyoshi was fishy somehow. If anything, he felt quite smug for predicting this possible outcome, it brought him back to when foreseeing his life was as easy as breathing for him.

“Where are the horses?”

Hyuuga blinked for a moment, but pointed his thumb behind his back. “The last three boxes hold our meekest.”

Akashi moved past him without sparing them a second glance, but Junpei clearly didn’t have enough delicacy to wait for him to be far enough before turning to hiss to the other man. “What the fuck, Kiyoshi?! You can’t hire an omega!”

He rolled his eyes, but stopped in front of the first of the three boxes. The horse inside was nothing special, with grey fur and white mane, but she came forward to let Akashi pet her as soon as he clicked his tongue at her. She huffed lazily and let him touch her nose, her mane and her neck, all the time showing no sign of stress and keeping her legs firm on the ground and her breath even.

“Uh? Why not? Kuroko-kun said it would be a good idea.”

Seijuro whispered her some praise, and she huffed again, before he moved on to the second box.

“ _What the fuck?!_ You can’t do something just because Kuroko told you to!”

The second horse had her head already outside to check on him, but waited patiently for Akashi to reach her before bumping her nose in his direction to try to prompt some caresses that he obliged gently. She was chestnut instead and a bit shorter than the other, but her legs seemed stronger, not that she would need resistance for the job. He tried to check her teeth, just to see if she would let him, and indeed she was docile through it all, but didn’t spare him some weird expressions and movements of her lips when he was done.

“Come on, Hyuuga, it will be fun!”

“No, it won’t!”

The two horses he just passed snorted loudly as they heard the raised voice of their groom. Akashi simply noted it, because in which universe could he expect a bunch of grade students to be quiet?, but he also noticed that the third horse ignored it all.

“Kiyoshi, be serious for a fucking second, here, please. If you do something like that, you’ll jeopardize everything your school is doing for the children around here! What if they force you to close? What if they replace you, or, hey, what if they fucking _arrest_ you?!”

She was pure black, kind of intimidating in her stillness, but when Akashi stopped in front of her box she just quietly observed him for a moment. Whatever she had found led her to approach the opening in the door and to stick her head out to try to chew on his red hair. Seijuro smiled weakly at the gesture, pushing her away gently and then moving his hands to pet her all the way down her neck.

“You shouldn’t yell, Hyuuga, you’re going to get a sore throat…”

“You’re going to get a smashed nose if you don’t stop ignoring me, you idiot!” but he lowered his voice.

Akashi stole a glance to the two men, hiding his act behind the horse’s neck, but his gaze met Kiyoshi’s interested one. The alpha must have noticed he had been listening, but he still smiled openly and dazzling and started waving his hands like some kind of overgrown kid. The omega cringed when he was unceremoniously called over with a loud “Did you find anything?”.

Striving not to look at the beta shuffling aside to let him closer to Teppei, almost shifting away in embarrassment, Seijuro resolved to stare at the alpha with firmness. “The third one seems docile enough. I would still like to try to ride with her, but it seems she won’t be easily spooked.”

“That’s wonderful!” Akashi decided that either Kiyoshi’s good mood was completely untouchable or he was a poor oblivious idiot. For some reason, the latter seemed in contrast with the feeling lingering around the alpha. “Hyuuga, could you saddle her?”

“I can do it myself,” Seijuro intervened before Hyuuga had any chance to say whatever scalding opinion was burning on his tongue and wrinkling his forehead in annoyance. He shot the beta an empty look. “I just need to know where I can find the necessary.”

 

 

Akashi wasn’t sure how much of a good thing that was, but Hyuuga had silenced his objections as he watched him saddle his horse of choice, a beautiful black Andalusian named Tsukiko with carefully braided pitchy mane and the long tail brushing the ground. 

She was proving herself better than Akashi would have hoped. She had let him close easily and allowed him to saddle her, and she also had a little playful side that made her try to munch on his hair every now and then. Hyuuga had muttered something about ‘affectionate’ but looked away scratching his neck when Seijuro had turned to him.

Whatever, Seijuro didn’t need his help.

When he led the horse out by the reins, he noticed the buzzing sound coming from the side of the building and he turned just in time to see Kiyoshi leading a class of kids that couldn’t be older than three toward the side of the fence. Akashi couldn’t say he appreciated, but he also knew that the alpha probably wanted to make sure the horse really could keep calm around loud kids, and if she didn't, well, better for it to happen when Seijuro was the only one close enough to get hurt, uh? The omega only clicked his tongue in annoyance once.

Tsukiko seemed only mildly interested in the children approaching the fence and their rapidly growing voices apparently had no effect on her as she observed them but kept on following Seijuro’s lead obediently. That was good, he decided.

He turned to check on the kids when one of them screamed for a bug and immediately felt a tug on his hair forcing him to turn and glare to the horse.

“You don’t like being ignored, do you?” he huffed, too low for anybody to hear, but she snorted at him anyway.

Yukimaru would have never done that, she was too well mannered, but she would have pushed her muzzle in between his shoulder-blades and brushed or pushed him depending on if she was happy or annoyed at him; she always tried to stick her nose in his left pocket, because she knew he kept her treats there. Tsukiko didn’t do anything like that; she didn’t know him, but she was young and wanted him to let her run.

Akashi lifted himself on the saddle with ease and caressed her braided mane in reassurance. “Let’s start slow, and then you can show me what you can do.”

 

 

At first it was embarrassing because whenever he checked the kids from the corner of his eyes they were all looking at him as if he was from another planet, a beautiful new thing to discover, but the feeling of uneasiness vanished soon.

No matter how long it had been, riding a horse immediately returned to Akashi as naturally as breathing. He couldn’t really help the excitement at the thought of riding again and Tsukiko seemed to feel it too. He had mounted the horse with relief, and now he was smiling as the mare fidgeted beneath him.

He always liked a horse with a lot of energy.

He warmed her muscles with a few laps around the arena, the children and the director and Hyuuga watching from outside the fence easily erased from his focus. Tsukiko was pliant and easy to direct and it took only a bit for him to have a feel for her and for her to get used to the feel of his commands.

When he deemed her warmed up enough, he guided her into a trot, then a canter, then a full run, and a moment later, he and the horse were both leaping into the air in a fearfully graceful movement. A chorus of gasps and then cheers became their background noise and Akashi was pleased to see Tsukiko’s performance wasn’t affected even by the loudest sounds. Which, to be honest, were rare, to Akashi’s please: whoever the teacher, they were doing a good job in keeping their kids quiet and composed.

But the though was rapidly dismissed. For the first time since the beginning of his nightmare, Akashi was feeling completely _at ease_. That freedom he had been so desperately clinging to seemed to rush back to him with every step the horse beat on the ground. He wasn’t an alpha nor an omega, he was not even human: as the horse jumped, he felt like a bird flying up in the sky.

He could do this.

 

 

_Perhaps,_ he could do this. 

By the time evening rolled around, he was still at the school and barely done grooming the third horse he had tried the day, the brown mare named Kiku. He had had to work with all three to make sure they were fit to work with children – Tsukiko was still his favourite, but the other two had been good too, after some time to get used to the kids – and he had refused Hyuuga’s help mainly to avoid spending time with the beta. He knew the man was just trying to protect his friend and all, but this was his future at stake and he couldn’t afford to waste energy on guiltiness. Nothing would change, otherwise.

His smile had turned into a tired expression and his muscles were aching in retaliation for the month he had spent without training or actually doing anything even remotely strenuous. Tsukiko had tried to eat his hair out twice or thrice more and he was considering asking Murasakibara for sugar cubes to bring her next time when he heard steps approaching and a soft knock.

Kuroko stood by one of the poles, his fist still against the wood where he hit it, and his face looked softer, somehow. Still kind of black and blue from the fight with Nash – and Akashi wondered how he had explained his healing bruises and cuts to the kids – and definitely exhausted, but a bit more relaxed.

Seijuro was suddenly very aware that he was dirty in manure and sweated to the bones, but the alpha didn’t seem to care.

“The kids were enthusiast,” he said instead, his eyes falling to where Tsukiko was trying to strain her neck to reach for Akashi’s hair as the man stood in from of her neighbour’s box.

“They almost killed themselves.” Akashi strived not to growl because, yet, the kids had been far too enthusiast about the horses and had thought that because he was holding them by the reins it was safe to crowd over them as they exited the fence. Once or twice his heart had stopped for a second as he grabbed one or two rascals that almost jumped under the animal’s hooves.

A tiny part of his brain realized that Tetsuya had been _there_ , probably accompanying the class, and had seen him. He wasn’t sure how it made him feel so he decided to store it away. He was doing that more often, lately.

Kuroko almost smiled at his offended expression, but didn’t bother commenting on it. He had seen him taking care of every single one of the children, anyway. He had seen, also, the way his lips had been open into an enthusiastic smile as he rode the horse.

So, instead, he simply tilted his head to a side. “I trust your amazing skills to prevent them from such an act.”

Akashi shot a glare at him, one that made him expose his nape to Tsukiko’s nose and forced to him to bend forward suddenly to avoid her. He didn’t want to lift his eyes because he didn’t want to see Kuroko’s surely smug expression, but when he did, surprisingly, the alpha was just holding his hands up in surrender, though his usual mask couldn’t quite hide the amusement in his eyes.

“Can you see yourself doing this regularly?” he asked instead, and his face sobered up in gentle empathy as he lowered his arms, “I know working with children is not for everyone.”

Kuroko could see Akashi mulling over the thought, and he was pleased with that because it meant the omega was taking the children’s wellbeing into account to. If he didn’t care, he would jump at the chance to get some freedom; but he did, and as he waited for an answer, Kuroko petted the nose of the horse in the stall to give Seijuro some privacy to mull over his thoughts.

The mare accepted Tetsuya meekly, as if he was someone she was already used to, and Akashi noted it absentmindedly as thoughts ran through his head. About his freedom and the kids, about Kiyoshi and Hyuuga, about the school and the correctional facility.

“Kids are a handful, but I've seen worse,” he declared in the end, approaching to caress the animal again. “I like the idea of teaching them.” And then for some reason, maybe only the warmth provided by the horses in the end of winter, he found himself adding, “My mare was very important to me when I was a kid. She helped me through a lot, so being able to have others experience the same, it’s... a pleasant feeling.”

Kuroko smiled softly as he murmured, “I'm glad.” And he stared. He stared for so long and so intensely, Akashi almost – _almost_ – fidgeted under that gaze. Instead, he arched a brow and Tetsuya seemed to suddenly remember himself, with a sudden inhale that accompanied the way he turned his face away from his mate and back to the animal. He added, “Are you nearly finished here? It's fine if you're not of course. I only plan to wait, so we can go home together.”

It was kind. Kuroko had only had to supply in for a few hours, but he had spent the whole day over to wait for Akashi. It was really, really kind. So much, Seijuro was unsure about what to say, so he opted to turn back to the horse and let her relax him.

“I would hope you’ll wait for me,” he sent the alpha a sideway glance and a half smirk, “I don’t have a car, after all.”

He’d _swear_ Kuroko snorted. He had no idea how it was possible while keeping a straight face, but he _did._ Tsukiko would agree with him.

 

 

“How’s the coat?” Akashi blinked, stopping while fixing the collar of the clothing around his neck to turn toward Kuroko, but the alpha was close, _really close_ , to him. Leaning a bit toward him, Tetsuya inhaled deeply just a few palms from his shoulder and his brows furrowed just a bit. “My scent seems to be still holding, but it’s definitely fainter than this morning.” 

“I’m dirty in manure and sweat,” Seijuro rolled his eyes. He had tensed instinctively for a second at the alpha’s closure, but now he felt himself relaxing as his body felt the heat of his mate’s so close to him. “It’s not really that surprising that your scent got overwritten.”

Kuroko huffed, his cheeks puffing just as a pouting kid’s. “Is Akashi-kun’s acidity part of his charm or am I receiving a special treatment?”

Akashi wouldn’t have believed in that fake aggressiveness even if Kuroko hadn’t been holding the door open for him. Still, he arched a brow and stood, stubbornly still, until his alpha realized and huffed but went out on his own and let him take the door for himself. He may be an omega, but he was _not_ a damsel in distress.

“You are my _special mate_ , but don’t get ahead of yourself,” he allowed himself a smile that he would have normally suppressed. Maybe the horses were really helping him. “In a few instances, Satsuki has had the pleasure to deal with my magnificent sarcasm too. And your cousin is always of great inspiration.”

“I am sure Momoi-san was more than capable to handle you,” Kuroko retorted, graciously ignoring the comment about Mayuzumi, as they approached the car. “I, on the other hand, am a far more delicate flower than her. Akashi-kun should keep it in mind.”

Seijuro stifled a laughter at those words – because, yes, Tetsuya was far frailer than Momoi –, but his smart retort was stopped, as they were on their tracks, by a loud shrieking sound.

It began abruptly, and made them both jerk in fear. Akashi’s hands ran instinctively to cover his ears as he ducked a bit, but Kuroko’s reaction was different and his head snapped toward the car. It took Seijuro a second to realize the sound was a siren, an alarm of some kind, and that Tetsuya wasn’t looking at his car at all.

Lights had been turned on, on top of the roof of the correctional facility, and spotlights were searching around the yard within the metallic fence, but not overstepping the gates.

Akashi’s heart stuck in his throat, making it hard to breath as his eyes widened and he saw a figure attempting a desperate run from behind something he couldn’t recognize, in the middle of the yard, to the gates. He had no idea if they were male or female, but he knew, just because the siren was still drilling in his eardrums, that they were an omega.

_An evasion_. How terrifying it looked from the outside, while he had already two successful ones on his secret criminal record.

He saw the sentinels on the roof taking the aim with their weapons.

“ _Akashi-kun!_ ”

Everything went black and terrifyingly hot. Something pressed against his shoulder and wrapped around him to grab his nape and turn his head. The next second his back was bent forward a bit and his nose was filled with Kuroko’s scent and his face was pressed against his mate’s shirt and there was an arm around his waist and a _loud bang_ bursting his ears. He never saw anything but black, but he didn’t need to.

He chocked on a sob before the echo of the shot had even died.


	14. Chapter 14

 

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**  

“Here.”

Akashi didn’t jerk when the voice addressed him, but his eyes moved slowly, almost unwillingly, on the tiny paper cup offered to him. The smell of poor tea-flavoured drink from a vending machine was faint, but it helped toning down the strength of his own scent, filled with distress and so out of his control both Kiyoshi and Kuroko had had to leave him in Hyuuga’s cares.

The siren had died down shortly after the shot, abruptly as it had started, to leave behind only a poignant silence, still and dirty like a putrid swamp. Akashi and Kuroko had been on their knees in a second, none of them aware of which one had pulled the other down, and Seijuro’s face had been kept hidden in his mate’s chest not to let him see whatever was happening in the courtyard just so many metres from them. He had been able to hear the faint buzzing of screamed orders, but not to realize what they were saying. Only once he had tried to wriggle free, a poor attempt with how much he was shaking, but Kuroko had kept him still and for once he had obeyed.

 ---

_“Don’t look. Akashi-kun, don’t look, stay here, I’m here, I promise, just don’t look. Don’t look, okay? Don’t. I’m here, I’ll protect you. It’s all right, Akashi-kun, I promise, just trust me this once, alright?”_

_“Kuroko-kun! Akashi-kun!”_

_“Here! We’re here!”_

_\---_

What had happened after Kiyoshi’s worried intervention was fuzzy. They had been ushered back inside the school, the coat around him had been at a certain point exchanged with a patchwork blanket and the jacket Kuroko himself had worn all day, and then Hyuuga’s scent had joined the picture and pulled him into the principal’s office.

Now, he felt a little back to himself and he didn’t bother hiding how hard he had been clenching his hands around Tetsuya’s jacket when he had to open one to take the poor excuse of tea from the vending machine e was being offered. The beverage scalded his mouth and his hands through the thin plastic cup but he ignored it, even as he felt the roof of his mouth starting to peel itself of the burned skin. His fingers went red as his hair and he just pulled his knees to his chest.

It was so fucking unreasonable. He didn’t even know that person, he hadn’t even been close enough to see them in the face! Why was he so upset?, he knew things like these happened so why was he shocked as if someone had shot his own family or he himself? “It doesn’t make sense…”

“When has it ever?” Akashi lifted his eyes on Hyuuga, uncertain about what to make of those words, but the beta was sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch the omega had been laid on and just shrugged at him. “We all know this is bullshit. Our opinions simply don’t matter.”

Akashi wanted to tell him he was a fucking _beta_ and he should only shut the fuck up about not mattering, but he bit his tongue. Betas were peacemakers by nature, either people trying to keep a balance between others or simply people never prone to start a fight, good ambassadors and mediators. While not in the same conditions of almost slavery of the omegas, it was true that their opinions in matters like internal security and criminality and other similar ones were usually overlooked as _too mild, it’s in their DNA, they can’t help but being weak when it comes to important choices_.

Even if the betas were to spoke against correctional facilities, they were in far smaller number than the alphas.

“He’s alive, by the way.” Akashi blinked himself back to the present to find Hyuuga scrutinizing him, and the beta must have found something good because his shoulders relaxed slightly. Still, his smile was sinister when he let out a dry laughter, almost sarcastic. “He’ll probably wish he weren’t soon enough, but still. They got him to a leg, apparently. Nothing death threatening, so, yes. He’s still alive.”

The tiny bit of relief – unmotivated, stupid _relief_ – Akashi had felt vanished at the cynical attitude of the beta in front of him, and all he could say was a low “Oh” that went almost unheard. He sipped on his tea again just to have something to do.

“Kuroko says to take your time,” Hyuuga added, sighing heavily, tired. “He and Kiyoshi were calling the kid’s homes to see if they were all okay, anyway.”

“Were they?”

Akashi was not sure why he was asking, but he didn’t like the face he got in answer. “Things like these are not that uncommon, here. Children grow used to the siren easily enough. The shots are another matter, but the parents usually tell them it’s just some older boy playing with firecrackers. It works for a while, until they get old enough to connect the dots on their own.”

_Used to._ He couldn’t believe how a kid could get used to something like that. But maybe they were still too young to understand the implications of what had happened. He shook again.

_It could have been you. It could still be you._

Hyuuga’s hand stretched out toward him, but it stopped when he saw the omega tense at the motion. “Do you want me to call your mate?”

For a moment, Akashi seemed to hear his own voice hissing a poisonous “ _No!_ ”, then his ears processed himself whispering “Yes” in a low tone made of a tired wish to drown into the car seat and let the engine lull him to sleep. And he wanted to deny it, but he _knew_ he was craving vanilla and old books because those were facets of his mate’s scent, now faint on the jacket he still had on his lap.

Hyuuga didn’t seem to notice the little conflict in his mind. “I’ll get him.”

 

 

Kuroko had looked barely contained when he had joined Akashi. 

The omega wanted to blame it on his own distressed scent still filling the room, but he had a feeling there was more. The memory of the cage of flesh protecting him, snapping into action out of instinct, and of the trembling voice, making empty promises that had been his whole world in that moment, hit him as he stood up. When Kuroko’s hand reached for his, caressing his wrist in a feathery contact, he accepted the touch with a low exhale.

Kiyoshi had been silently observing them the whole time and only nodded as they left the school.

Kuroko had turned the car so it would face the entrance gate, keeping the facility to its right. He escorted Akashi to his seat trying to shield him from the sight with his own body, which would have worked so much better hadn’t he been five inches shorter than his mate. Seijuro could appreciate the attempt, still, and it made him feel slightly better.

He forced himself not to look as Tetsuya reached his seat, start the car and drove out of the gate. He couldn’t avoid one last look from the corner of his eye as the car turned left.

The building was silent and still, the only movement being the guards walking on its rooftop.

 

 

The car was silent, but it wasn’t the usual uncomfortable drive they had shared in the past. The excitement of the drive to the school had been washed away, but Kuroko scent was filling the space to try to gently clear out the distress in Akashi’s and by the time they were home Seijuro felt ready to collapse. 

Instead, he found himself met with three figures standing on the doorstep. And the mere fact that Murasakibara wasn’t munching on anything was concerning enough.

Akashi glared at Kuroko.

“In my defence,–” the alpha said, looking tired but _not_ apologetic, “–I needed to notify Murasakibara that we’d be late and why. My cousin and his mate, I have no idea why they’re here, but–” Reo’s hands were clenched around Mayuzumi’s wrist and forearm and Tetsuya’s shoulders dropped, “–I guess it’s safe to assume they’ve been informed too.”

Akashi took a deep breath, but steeled himself not to sigh. “I don’t think I’m in the mood to listen to Mayuzumi’s ideas about what I–”

“He won’t.” Kuroko’s hand caressed Akashi’s wrist again, just as softly as he had done at the school, and Seijuro stopped talking just to look at his face. “Mayuzumi is not that heartless.” A blink chased away something from blue irises, a dark helpless feeling that sent a shiver down the omega’s spine. “My cousin’s mate and he, they had to face many adversities for their bond to be accepted. It’s not my place to talk about it, but just know that… he’s more sensitive to the omegas’ rights cause than he likes to let on. His side of the family has always been more conservative than mine and he’s had to learn to pretend to be like them to get Mibuchi-san out of danger.”

Akashi didn’t even bother asking for what kind of danger, he had seen enough shit for one day. But he stored the information for a later moment, because when the two of them opened their doors and climbed down, Mayuzumi started fussing around his cousin, but Reo came straight to him.

Anise’s, he realized, was the scent that enveloped him when the omega grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him to his chest, in a hug far too tight for being comfortable, with how little they knew each other. Akashi was going to tell the other to let him go, but something shifted in his smell, making it warmer and conciliating and… _Safe_ was the only thing he could think of.

“Omegas need to stick together,” Reo whispered in his ear gently. “Our scents can relax us almost as much as our bonded alpha’s.”

The shorter omega made a note to himself to ask about that trick later, but for the moment simply accepted the comfort.

“Let’s go in.” Mayuzumi approached them with Kuroko by his side, but despite the frown on his face made no move to detach his mate from his cousin’s. “I think that was enough plot-twists for today.”

Murasakibara was keeping the door open for them to get in when they reached the door, Reo still flanking Akashi with no apparent intention of letting the arm around his shoulders drop anytime soon, and they all moved to the kitchen where Atsushi tried to feed Seijuro like a little kid, holding his cutlery and all. Kuroko’s phone rang just in time to prevent the omega from physically hurting the huge beta.

“Akashi-kun.” Seijuro turned his head, surprised, and froze when he felt the sticky feeling of soup against his cheek. “ _Murasakibara-kun,_ could you please _stop_?”

Atsushi grunted something, clearly offended, that had Reo smiling while offering a napkin to the other omega.

Tetsuya rolled his eyes, but offered his phone to his mate when he was done cleaning his face. “It’s Momoi-san for you,” he said a bit wary. “She’d like to know how your first day was.”

Akashi closed his eyes and almost groaned. Maybe he would have, had Chihiro not been in the room. “Which means she’s _demanding_ , isn’t she?”

With a smile that was far too much relieved to really express sorry, Tetsuya let his mate take the phone, while Mibuchi slipped off the seat beside him easily and instead moved to go hide under the arm of Mayuzumi. Chihiro looked quite constipated, standing on his feet on the other side of the table, but he visibly relaxed touching his omega.

Akashi lost a second to think about Kuroko’s words, and then he was swept away by Momoi’s unending chain of questions. He listened to her without really understanding a word for a while, relaxing with just the familiar feminine tone.

“ _Seijuro?_ ” she asked after a while, realizing his silence, “ _Did something happen?_ ”

He only had to lift his eyes to meet Kuroko’s and the next second everybody was moving out of the kitchen to give him space. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t hear Mayuzumi complaining on his way out. That must have been the universe’s way to make up for the bad experience of a few hours before.

“They shot an omega trying to escape a correctional facility near the school.”

A pause, heavy and filled with slow understanding, but barely a few seconds long. “ _I’m listening._ ” 

 

 

Telling Satsuki had been helpful, but had unneeded – and admittedly quite predictable – consequences. Among the others, _visitors_. 

Akashi stood atop of the stairs considering how many chances he had to make it to his room and lock himself in before Murasakibara finished opening the door for Momoi. _And_ Kise. _And_ Aomine. How did they even know? Oh right. Satsuki and Kise’s apparently fated newfound friendship.

“If you try to leave me alone with them, I will send Mayuzumi-kun to get you back.” He didn’t even jerked at the sudden voice from behind him, he just glared at his mate, but Kuroko didn’t budge. Standing there, he blocked Akashi’s retreating path.

“SEIJURO!”

“Momoi-san needs you, apparently.”

Akashi’s gaze was deadly. “I will get back at you for this.” But as soon as he was done climbing down the stairs, she was all over him, hugging so tight he was sure she would break some bones. “Satsuki, I am fine. We were too far to get hit, even by accident.”

She just hugged him tighter, and he knew she hadn’t been fooled. After a second, she finally let him go, but not without running her hand on his cheek, barely a caress with her fingertips, and he graced her with a tired smile. It seemed to calm her down enough for her to take a step back, revealing a frowning Mayuzumi.

Chihiro looked ready to say something, nasty judging from his expression. Akashi _really_ wasn’t in the mood for another fight.

“AKASHICCHI!” Nor for this.

Seijuro sighed.

“Chihi-chan, didn’t you need to talk to Kuroko-chan about something?” If the sentence hadn’t been so random, Reo’s stare at his mate was enough of a giveaway of his intention anyway. Mayuzumi _must_ have realized too, but his dead eyes held his mate’s glare for a while as if trying to deny the affirmation. “Aomine-san _too_.”

Daiki seemed to come back to Earth when he heard his name, tearing his gaze away from his mate standing awfully close to Momoi. “Uh? Me?”

Akashi really wanted to slam his head against something or at least to sigh heavily and disappointedly, but had to hold himself back, more than a bit intrigued at whatever Reo wanted to tell him without those alphas around.

Surprisingly, Kise seemed to be more perceptive than his mate. “ _Yes_ , Daikicchi!” he chirped, far too sweetly – even for his standards – to sound real. “Go with Mayuzumi-san and Kurokocchi, we’ll be fine _by ourselves_!”

Aomine, Akashi decided, was an idiot. His reaction was to open his mouth, possibly to ask for something, so he thanked the gods when Satsuki was faster and simply grabbed the policeman by an arm to grab him with her, closer to Kuroko.

Tetsuya only blinked at Seijuro once before sending a pointed look to his cousin, who finally gave up under the joined attack. “I _really_ need to talk to you,” he warned though, almost threateningly, and it made Seijuro wary to see that, by the nod of his head, Kuroko seemed to know what the other was talking about.

The alphas left the room easily, moving to the library where Tetsuya and Akashi had finally sorted many things about their relationship out, and Akashi found himself escorted by Reo and Kise to a secondary living room on the other side of the staircase. It was littler and more secluded than the other, with a brown leather two-seats couch and a similar armchair close to a crackling fireplace. Atsushi followed them to lay a tray with some teacups and a steaming teapot on the short dark wooden table in the middle, then he vanished out of the room without asking questions.

Akashi couldn’t help himself from raising a brow in Mibuchi’s direction. “Discreet.”

Kise laughed at his obvious sarcasm, but Reo sat on the couch with all the grace of a royal, completely unperturbed, and gestured the seat beside his to Akashi. Ryouta stopped chuckling immediately and, _obviously_ , started whining about being exiled to the armchair. Seijuro was ready to tell him to grow up a bit, but Mibuchi surprised him, _completely_.

“Come here,” he said instead, gentle and smiling, while spreading his arms a bit to allow Kise to _fling himself on his lap_ , sitting like a kid askew on the other’s legs and with a stupidly content grin spreading on his face. Somehow, Ryouta also manage to cross his legs seductively and when he schooled his expression into a slightly more serious one, with barely a smile on his lips, the contrast of sexy and childish was absurd.

“It’s not that weird, Akashicchi,” he said, running a fingertip down the column of Reo’s throat. “When there isn’t any alpha around, it’s actually pretty common for omegas to search each other’s scent and closure. It’s a very nice feeling.” His golden eyes shone. “Want to try?”

Reo’s chuckle answered in Seijuro’s place and the man moved the hand that had been on Kise’s thigh to Akashi’s forearm. “Ryou-chan is right, but if you were trained to be an alpha it’s not weird for you not to know. It’s like a little secret of ours, something to keep from ours mates.” He showed an exaggerated wink. “Keep it for us, okay, Sei-chan?”

The red-haired omega frowned at the last admission. An whole subculture of omegas?, kept in complete secret from both the alpha and beta categories? How could it be? But indeed also matters like controlling the scents and details about heats and pregnancies were an exclusive knowledge of omegas. It was something that alphas weren’t interested in and that was usually passed down in the families, from one to the successor, some kind of old tradition passed down orally in evenings without their mates. It seemed intriguing.

Also, it seemed useful.

“Sei-chan.” He blinked to move his eyes from Mibuchi’s hand to his eyes, ignoring how Kise had leant his face against the other’s neck and was now breathing evenly against his skin, lulled by the scent. “Would you like me to help you relax or would you rather I start teaching you something about… how to be an omega?”

Reo seemed tentative, even in his obvious attempt to distract him from what had just happened, but Akashi felt grateful anyway. He couldn’t push the thought of what he had seen out of his mind just like that, but also the memory of what had happened after – of Kuroko’s _devastated_ expression as he realized he needed to step away from the heavy scent of distress emitting from his omega – was boldly taking place in his mind. 

His answer was doubtless: “Teach me.”

He was an _omega_. He couldn’t just keep on denying himself.

 

 

Aomine blinked. From his standing position beside the fireplace, he let his eyes slowly move from Kuroko, sitting with crossed legs on one of the armchairs of brown leather like some kind of criminal boss, to Mayuzumi, on the other armchair with his legs slightly spread and his elbows on his thighs and his fingers entwined in between them, to Momoi, occupying the whole sofa laying on her side with her ankles crossed on a cushion and a fist to hold her head at the temple. 

None of them seemed bothered in the slightest for what had just been said. Tetsu had no fucking expression as always, Chihiro seemed more constipated than usual and that Satsuki seemed a bit lost but determined. In the end, all he could say was: “You do remember I’m a cop, right?”

That Momoi girl rolled her eyes at him just as Mayuzumi glared. Kuroko took a sip of his tea as he let his irises wander on him as if considering how much it was worth to actually answer him.

“You didn’t seem that mindful of such trivialities a few days ago, Aomine-kun,” he commented, his breath dissolving the steam from the cup together with the officer’s hope to be listened to. “How is Imayoshi-san, by the way?”

“Don’t mess with me, Tetsu,” Daiki snapped, pointing an accusing finger toward his friend. “The asshole has been completely insufferable since he got a call from the Internal Affairs. How the fuck did you even manage to get them on him?!”

“I actually have no idea, I let Riko-san handle the situation in the way she considered the best.”

“The fuck?!”

“What about pressing charge?” Momoi intervened, a light frown on her forehead, ignoring Aomine completely to just scan Kuroko’s expressionless face. “I thought you said you would have.”

Tetsuya laid his cup on the table, sighing lightly. “She persuaded me it wouldn’t be a wise choice. Akashi-kun’s conduct since he became my mate has been–” he blinked, “– _untraditional_ ; it wouldn’t be safe for him to get all the spotlights.”

“Aida got the assholes to pay one hell of a compensation to get you off their case, anyway,” Mayuzumi snorted, shaking his head. “That woman is the devil.”

“And now we have a good sum of money we don’t have any use for.” Kuroko tilted his head to a side. “The injured party was Akashi-kun anyway, so I don’t see the problem in giving him what’s his.”

_And we’re back to the fool’s delirium._ Daiki wanted to slam his head against the wall, but instead barked at his best friend.

“You _can’t_ open a bank account in your mate’s name, Tetsu!”

“Why not?” All considered, slamming his head against the wall would have probably gotten him more results than talking to these mules.

“Because they won’t let you!” Daiki spread his arms like he was saying something obvious, but inside he felt bad. He wasn’t trying to be an asshole: god knew he tried to help Kise to get the same thing, but that’s exactly how he knew it was impossible. In the end, Ryouta’s savings all ended up in a different bank account than his, but still under the name Aomine. “They consider omegas as _things_ , and things don’t own money!”

Mayuzumi’s eyes flashed red, dangerous. “ _Things_ don’t speak,” he hissed, barely containing his anger by balling his hands in tight fists. “Things don’t breath, don’t think and don’t have fucking feelings. _Omegas do._ ”

“You think I don’t know it?! I’m not saying it’s right, just…!”

“Shut up, both of you!” Aomine jerked and he caught Mayuzumi’s head snapping to a side from the corner of his eyes, as he too turned to face the anger on the girl’s face. Pink irises aflame, Momoi glared them both back to their places, her scent rising to fill the room, overwriting Tetsuya’s in full. Normally, that would have been rude, but Kuroko didn’t seem to mind as he, instead, let out a little sigh, probably content that the fight had been shot down before it even started. “It’s just an _option_ ,” Satsuki reminded them all sternly. “We need to make sure a gesture like that won’t endanger Seijuro before we actually try it.”

Kuroko ignored Mayuzumi’s clicking tongue and instead laid his head back, against the leather, to close his eyes and breath deeply.

Since when he had inherited his family’s wealth and position, he had never bothered using much of it. His father had removed himself from the politic scene around his birth, to care for him and his mother, and they had simply lived in their house, far from the centre of the city, occasionally accepting visits from their relatives, and he had just kept on doing just that after his parent’s passing. Mayuzumi’s own parents went out of the picture a little after Chihiro’s bonding and after that it had always been the two of them and no one else. Sure, there had been friends and Reo and all, but the only person Kuroko would have ever sworn to be ready to do anything for was his cousin. And now here he was, thinking about something _so crazy_ even Aomine was up to stop him.

_“If you get the chance to do something to stop someone from hurting, why would you choose not to?”_ His father’s eyes used to shine melancholically the day he told him that, and Tetsuya was seven and sitting confusedly on his knees, watching behind his back to the way his mother was serving tea. He couldn’t remember the face of the man that had just visited them, now, but he remembered there had been screams before his father called the security to throw that person out. _“You must think about this carefully, Tetsuya. There is not a right answer; sometimes there are things that we feel like we must protect more than anything else, the rest of the world included. But you must always ask yourself: is this the case to fight or to stand down? If you stop asking, you won’t act when the moment comes.”_  

Kuroko’s father had thought that protecting his family was the most important thing in the world. His son had followed his steps dutifully. At least, up until now.

“Tetsuya.” He lifted his head and opened his eyes to see Chihiro had stood up from his seat and was now in front of his, looking in the middle of reaching for the door. Mayuzumi’s grey eyes were dull, thinking, and the little bent of his lips said he was unsure about what he was going to reveal, but still he met his cousin’s gaze firmly. “Reo wants to talk to him about that man I told you about.”

_Oh, right_. He nodded, instinctively getting to his feet too as he noticed Momoi was standing up as well. They were probably all going to leave, since it was pretty late already. “That would actually help a lot,” he admitted. “I would gladly avoid a repeat of the last time.”

Tetsuya knew Satsuki was eying them cautiously, as if trying to gauge out what they were talking about only by the few lines they were exchanging now. If only she knew how complex the matter was, she wouldn’t even be trying, but he let her be, leading his guests out of the study and toward the living room. Actually, he was more interested in something else.

“How is Mibuchi-san?” he asked, spying on his cousin by the corner of his eye.

Chihiro’s expression was an answer for itself. “He’ll have to be tested in a few days. We’ll know then.”

Diplomacy, Tetsuya had learnt, was not his cousin’s weapon. It was the shield he built up to protect his lover, and no one else.

“I wish you both luck.” What else, otherwise? Mayuzumi seemed to accept his useless wish anyway, though, with a graceful nod of his head as they reached for the living room the omegas were occupying.

Kuroko moved his eyes forward and stopped. He froze so suddenly Aomine almost slammed into him, and Daiki would have probably even started on a rant had Momoi not been fast enough to slap a hand on his mouth. It took the cop a moment, but then he saw what the others had noticed too.

Reo smiled at them innocently, as if he hadn’t somehow turned into a pillow for both Kise, sitting on his lap like some overgrown kid, and _Akashi_. Seijuro didn’t look half as peaceful as Ryouta did, but his features were relaxed enough as he leaned against the other’s shoulder and slept with his temple pressed against his skin, unperturbed by the contact.

Kuroko mentally chocked the feeling that tried to rose in his chest at the knowledge that he still had a long way to go before his mate admitted him into such closure. Once that nasty thought had died, he could relish in the warm feeling that seeing Akashi with other people, finally safe, woke into him.

“I’ll get Murasakibara to take the brat to his room, but the model is all yours to wake up and take home, Aomine.”

Reo and Tetsuya shared a look at Mayuzumi’s words – blunt and grumpy, sure, but _he was not going to wake Seijuro up just to bother him?_ , that sounded like a miracle – and let little enigmatic smiles play on their lips for a second.

_A miracle is what we’ll need_ , Kuroko thought, looking at his mate’s sleeping figure. He just hoped he’d made the right decision.


	15. Chapter 15

 

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

 

“A _doctor_?” 

Akashi’s brow arched, his hand stopping midway while bringing rice to his mouth, and Kuroko thought bitterly that the day had started _so well_.

It was a few days after the accident at school, and also because there had been no necessity for Kuroko to make any other substitution they hadn’t need to go back there. After a few first days of awkwardness and tension – eased a bit by Reo’s daily visits at their house and Momoi’s and Kise’s calls –, Seijuro had finally come out of his room with lighter clothes than the usual pullovers he had worn to hide his neck and scent.

Nigou had been obviously behind him. The big puppy was constantly refusing to leave his new friend’s side now that he had found someone who let him sleep on the bed, and the omega, while never outright expressing happiness for the fact, always _forgot_ to complain. Kuroko didn’t dare to ask.

The day Akashi had sat down with him to have breakfast together Murasakibara was out running a few errands and thus Tetsuya had had a chance to show off his skills in using the rice cooker and boiling eggs. Seijuro had even cracked a smile at his deadpan humour, which was a miracle itself.

And now, one wrong sentence later, Kuroko found himself tense again. He drank some tea to hide his uneasiness, for he was sure his mate was starting to pick on his littlest tale-telling quirks.

“I cannot really explain it any better,” he sighed, laying down his cup to take a deep breath. “It’s Mibuchi-san, apparently, who keeps the contact with him, so Mayuzumi didn’t know much more either. It appears that discretion is a strict requirement.”

Akashi’s chopsticks ticked against each other a few times, following the low humming in his throat, and the omega took some time to pet Nigou’s head with his free hand before focusing his gaze again on his mate. He was wearing barely a white T-shirt that revealed a bit of his collarbones and loose grey track-pants, but still he looked quite dangerous and demanding as he replied. “What makes you think I would need to meet this doctor whose expertise you yourself have no idea of? Sounds a bit unreasonable to me.”

Kuroko could honestly not deny it, but still he shrugged a bit, keeping his expression unreadable as he picked up a piece of egg and eat it slowly. “I don’t know what to say, to be honest, Akashi-kun. Mibuchi-san has apparently insisted a lot on you meeting him. From what I could pick up, this is a doctor that focuses on omegas alone, for some reason.” He let his forehead crease a bit. “I thought that perhaps it could be related to the peculiarity of presenting that you and my cousin’s mate have in common? But this is only my hypothesis, so, please, don’t take it at heart.”

Nigou whined and Akashi glared at him, a silent scolding because he had already feed the dog more than his due share of food. The puppy looked half offended and half heart-broken as he stood up, and Seijuro thought he’d leave but instead the traitor barely circled around the table to sit at his master’s side and paw at his leg. _Obviously_ , Tetsuya was so focused on Akashi he just granted the dog a piece of bread without thinking, because he was just that much of an idiot.

With a sigh, Seijuro went back to his food for no other reason than taking a moment more to consider. That Mibuchi granted for that doctor was reassuring, and that he pushed for a meeting was intriguing, but not knowing what kind of medic he was exactly supposed to meet was confusing. Aside from the abhorrent week of his heat, Akashi had been perfectly healthy. Physically, at least.

“I supposed this must be about another thing that my education omitted in the past,” he commented, acrid, but Kuroko didn’t intervene.

Oh, who was Akashi trying to kid? Normally, he would have taken any chance at leaving the house no matter the reason, but he had been carefully avoiding it after the accident at school. He wasn’t so deep in denial not to admit it, and there was no way his alpha hadn’t noticed too. _It’s probably why he isn’t pushing the issue_. Even the matter of his job had been carefully avoided: Akashi had no idea if Kiyoshi was still intended on hiring him now, and he was frankly scared of asking.

That could have been his only chance, and still he couldn’t stop thinking about the crumbling figure on the facility’s grounds. Hyuuga said he was still alive; Akashi wondered how he had known.

Kuroko picked up their empty dishes and Seijuro watched him placing them in the sink and washing them slowly, serene, silent. _Empathetic_ , unbelievably so for an Alpha in such a powerful position. All in all, Seijuro guessed he had been lucky, in his misfortune.

“It won’t hurt to meet this man.” He said it slowly, his voice barely audible above the noise of running water, but Kuroko’s hands stalled, only for a second before returning to their work.

“I agree.” He turned just enough to look at Akashi from above his shoulder. “Alphas aren’t allowed near the premise, though; that’s part of why Mayuzumi himself doesn’t know much about the matter. Mibuchi-san has a scheduled appointment later today and offered to take you along, but if you’d rather go on your own I think it could be arranged.” He frowned a bit, but tried to mask it with a shrug. “Though I’d prefer it if you take Murasakibara with you, in that case.”

Akashi hummed noncommittally. It made sense for a medical office for omegas to be alpha-free, and in fact it was borderline illegal: alphas owned all of their mates’ paperworks, including the medical records and stuff, so they usually tagged along always, no matter the discomfort that their presence could cause. Murasakibara was simply a beta, but still.

“I think I’ll accompany Reo,” he said, striving not to stutter on the name. Mibuchi had _insisted_ that Akashi used his first name and only a long negotiations had allowed him to at least avoid the more familiar _Reo-nee_. If Kuroko was bothered by the fact that his mate called someone else by their first name, he didn’t show it. “I don’t much like getting into things blindly.”

“I had a feeling.” There was a hint of sarcasm there. Akashi was _sure_ he had heard it, and he glared at Kuroko’s back. “You will need your documents, so I prepared them last night. For anything else, Mibuchi-san will take care of it and then Mayuzumi and I can even things out.”

_Just like a credit card_ , Seijuro almost retorted, but he bit his tongue. It seemed he had just managed to get Chihiro to tone down his hostility, he didn’t need to spike it back up through excessive sarcasm. Though admittedly he still felt quite full of bitterness. Again, he just hummed.

Nigou barked at him, somehow scolding, and Seijuro glared back. Kuroko giggled.

 

 

Predictably, Mibuchi showed up early. He wore a soft green roll-neck and fitting black jeans that wrapped his figure nicely, and he hadn’t bothered to put on his coat despite the chill hair of January, meaning they were meant to be on their way shortly. The hair on his temples were pulled backward and tied in a short ponytail that fell on the loose strands down to his shoulders. His lips were a soft pink; Akashi wasn’t sure if it was natural or from make-up, but the colour suited him.

“Don’t worry, Kuroko-chan,” Reo greeted, his hand finding easily Seijuro’s shoulder. The touch, for as light as it was, would have normally made him snap, yet he found himself perfectly relaxed in the other omega’s personal space. There was once more a faint smell of anise, and he was getting used to the reassuring feeling it brought him, even more so knowing it was part of the omega culture to soothe a companion that way. “I’ll take good care of Sei-chan.”

Kuroko didn’t seem to have picked up on the scent, maybe because he was still standing on the doorstep and watching Akashi approach the other omega from there, a hand firmly around Nigou’s collar to prevent him from following them. His expression was blank, but his eyes were set on the casual touch and little wrinkles were showing at their corners, giving him somehow a soft edge.

“Just be careful, both of you,” was the only answer he offered, his gaze shifting for a second to the black car Reo drove. “Let me know when you’re heading back. I’ll have dinner ready if you’d like to eat with us.”

Mibuchi’s smile was blinding and gentle, a promise to try to convince his mate to accept the invite _and_ be polite, and then the two of them were heading to the car. Akashi had the patience to wait for the engine to be turned on, for them to pass the gates of Kuroko’s house, and for a couple blocks of turns and hectic traffic to be behind them before he turned to Reo, by his side in the driver’s seat, and arch a brow at him.

The other omega smiled gently, catching the sight from the corner of his eyes. “I promise it’s nothing bad.”

“I’d like to decide that for myself, thank you.”

“We’re almost there anyway.”

“Reo–,” Akashi’s voice steeled just a bit, “–I won’t get off this car without knowing what kind of doctor you’re taking me to.”

He wasn’t bluffing. He’d seen enough since his presenting for that little trust he had to give to be torn to shreds and buried so deep within him even Kuroko was having troubles digging the tiniest bit out. Reo was a lifeboat, his teaching and his gentle nature worked as a buffer between Seijuro and the omega world, and he was the closest thing to a friend Akashi ever found after Momoi. Kise was a bit too over-excited for that role. But that didn’t mean he got a free pass to force him into anything. Just the fact that the younger man had accepted to come all the way there was quite out of his usual comfort zone.

Mibuchi didn’t immediately answer. His scent shifted just a bit, bearing something Akashi hadn’t caught up on before: nervousness. “I’m getting checked too,” the man said, his smile twitching just slightly. “It’s… _really_ important, this time.”

Sour anise was an unpleasant scent, and even more so in the close cubicle of the car, but somehow instead of feeling repulsive, Akashi’s guts clenched, his instincts yelling at him to get closer, to check, to _make sure he’s fine, make sure he’s safe, I need to protect, protect, help_.

“This doctor focuses on heats.” Reo stopped at a red light, but refused to look at Akashi. “My omega mother has been bringing me to his predecessor since I presented when I was ten, and he really made a difference in how my future played.”

It didn’t take a genius to know what Mibuchi was hinting at. Presenting at ten sounded like hell, the poor man probably couldn’t even understand what was going on when his first heat hit him, and he was so young... Akashi had no idea when exactly Mayuzumi got into the picture, but Reo had been lucky to find a mate that was at least close to him in age; hopefully it meant their relationship didn’t reach the intimacy of sexual intercourses before they were much older.

His own worry was staining his scent. Seijuro had grown better at recognizing it, and while he couldn’t pinpoint its raw nature since he was used to it, he could catch the shifts and bring them back under control. With Reo’s help, he could do it with littlest changes, but he still was helpless against strong emotions.

“I was a bit of a recluse, when I was younger,” Reo smiled as they resumed driving. “Chihiro and his family moved in the house beside ours for a while when Kuroko’s parents died, saying they needed a bigger house to host the new kid, but he didn’t like his cousin so much back then. He spent a lot of time in the backyard and we started talking through the fence of our gardens.” A faint chuckled painted the anise with a sprinkle of cinnamon. “He always pretended he hated being disturbed, but he let me talk endlessly. It went on for a few years, until my parents started pushing me for a mate.”

“The Mayuzumi family is a branch of the Kuroko’s, right?” Seijuro frowned, trying to collect the dots. He had assumed that Kuroko’s parents weren’t in the picture far before Tetsuya admitted so: Kise had kind of hinted to the fact during one of their talks, and Chihiro was protective enough to assume he had taken care of his younger at some point. It was especially weird to think about the two cousins as anything but each other’s protectors, but there was something that struck him as odder than a childhood feud. “It was definitely a good match for your family to get.”

Akashi had never heard of the Mibuchi family, which meant they weren’t anywhere as important as the Kuroko. Adding in his terrifyingly early presenting and all the health issues that it could bring, it was downright miraculous that Mayuzumi had chosen Reo of all people.

Kuroko had told him Chihiro and Reo had to fight for their bond to be accepted. Since there was no reason for the other family to oppose and one plus one made two, it meant that it was the Mayuzumi clan to oppose them.

“Kuroko had already turned of age, by the time my parents gave me the ultimatum. ‘ _One-year or we will find someone for you_ ’, they said, and I’d had my eyes on Chihiro for years by then.” Reo turned right and it took Akashi a moment to realize they were slipping into an underground parking lot. It was almost empty so they wasted no time finding a spot close to the elevator, just to make sure they didn’t spend too much time in that open and probably unguarded space. The engine died down but they waited for a second longer. “The Kuroko family is the one that manages most if not all the companies and the incomes. The Mayuzumi, for all they want, are only a bit more than subordinates. The moment he became the heir and sided with us, Chihiro’s family shut up. They still don’t like me; they moved to another city when he took over their business, and they only barely call him, not that he’s all that happy to answer when it happens.”

Akashi scanned the area around them for a second. There was nobody around, and he guessed that was why Reo chose that place to tell him about this. He felt bitter for him as he did so.

Reo was a good person; that much couldn’t be denied. He was comforting to his mate, yet held his own opinion firmly; he was supportive of others, whether they were alpha or omegas, and he felt so responsible of others that he could see where the ‘onee-san’ term came from. And yet, from his upbringing, Akashi could see how that development made sense, why Mayuzumi’s family would be against the mating, considering the odds of an omega with such an early presenting to be fertile enough to give birth and produce an heir.

He didn’t say that out loud, though. He turned back to Reo with all intents to change the topic, and steer the conversation back to ‘ _why am I here?_ ’.

Mibuchi was already getting off the car, though, and trotted, all too happily, toward the elevator to leave Seijuro with no choice but to frown and follow him. He had gotten half the answers he wanted, and it annoyed him quite a lot, but Kuroko too had thought the encounter may be about his heat so he felt calm enough in entering the cabin.

There was just no way his heat could get worse than it already was, after all.

 

 

The clinic turned out to be a flat in a three stories tall building with anonymous face, situated in a quiet neighbourhood almost in periphery. Outside the elevator was a little corridor that brought them in front of a red chipped door with ‘24’ in black numbers painted on and, as Reo knocked twice, Akashi stole a glance outside the window to realize the street was almost empty except for an old lady walking her dog. 

It didn’t look like a doctor’s place at all.

Before he could complain, the door open and Akashi found himself facing a tall man, _taller than Reo himself_. The mere fact was enough to make him stiff, and the scent, so typically alpha in a strong flavour of sandal, only worsened it all.

In black kaki pants and a burgundy V-neck pullover on a white shirt, the man couldn’t have reached thirty years despite his sky-rocketing stature. He wore green-framed rectangular glasses that matched his emerald eyes, in sharp suspicious lines behind the lenses, and his short hair. The pale skin and soft traits gave him an algid beauty that contrasted somehow with the less than agreeable expression on his face. Had someone told Akashi the man had just swallowed a whole lemon, he wouldn’t be surprised.

The alpha spared him barely enough of a glance to frown before moving his eyes on Mibuchi.

“Seriously, nanodayo?” he hissed, and the voice albeit warm and deep sounded cold and hostile. “ _Akashi Seijuro_? _He_ is your friend?”

Reo gave a nervous laughter in answer around a hesitant “Indeed”, but then pointed at the inside of the apartment. “Can we?”

All over the man’s face was written “No” in thick bold lines, therefore Akashi found himself blinking in surprise when he moved aside to effectively let the path free for them. “Just because I can’t let you hang around here, nanodayo. People would be suspicious.”

_Suspicious of what?_ , Seijuro wanted to ask, but he stopped himself just in time as his eyes took in the sight of the room they had just been granted access to.

It was a waiting room. Chairs against the walls, a short table with a bottle of water and other four underneath, paper cups just beside them, and a hanger on top of which Reo put both their coats. There was another door on the other end of the room that had been left open, and through it one could clearly see what looked all in all like a medical study: with books filling the shelf behind a desk covered in papers and a stethoscope, the tailing end of a medical bed covered with paper-sheet, a weight scale and a white coat abandoned on a chair.

“You’re just worried that Nakatani-sensei would get angry at you if you left a patient outside,” Reo was joking beside them, earning himself a scoff in response.

“He’s not in today, so he wouldn’t know. You’re early, anyway, nanodayo,” Akashi heard the man complain from behind him, but Reo was already on his way to calm him down when he turned to face them again.

“I’m sorry, we just wanted to get this over with.” The words were all but reassuring. Akashi’s glare must have been explicit on his feelings about the matter, because Reo blushed lightly and waved his worries of with a hand, while the other man sighed.

“I guess it can’t be helped, since you’re already here.” The man fixed the glasses on his nose with the tip of his left hand and Akashi noticed there were white bandages carefully wrapped around all the fingers. The right hand didn’t have as much as a plaster as it pointed the studio to the both of them. Akashi eyed Reo, but the other gestured him to follow, all while the man kept on talking. “Takao is finishing with sterilizing the other room, but he’ll be done in a minute. Mibuchi-san can stay with me as we go through the examination and the blood tests, while–” he hesitated to steal a glance at Seijuro under the pretense of putting the white coat on, “– _Akashi-san_ can go with him and find the best solution for himself.”

“We’re sorry for the inconvenience,” Reo repeated, sounding all but repentant. The doctor glared at him. “Also, Sei-chan isn’t really up to detail with what he’s supposed to get here, so it’d be nice if you could give him an overall summary of what is going to happen, Midorima-sensei!”

Reo’s chirping voice was enough to irk Akashi, and he had no idea how it must sound to the alpha, who indeed looked one step from strangling him. His brows furrowed so much, they seemed to want to fuse into a single one.

“How much does he know, nanodayo?” _Midorima_ asked, sounding like he already suspected it to not be much.

Reo smiled sweetly. “That you’re a doctor?”

“He’s too young to possibly be a doctor,” Akashi interjected, earning himself a glare from both the other two.

“I am ahead in my studies,” the alpha stated, his voice going back to a cold impassivity and stern professionalism. “My name is Midorima Shintarou, and I am _indeed_ a doctor. An endocrinologist with specialization in omega anatomy, to be precise.”

Endocrinology. Glands, heats. Seijuro felt a shiver straighten his spine.

“Reo has been high on praises for you, yet scarce about whatever kind of practice you put to work in _here_.” He was graceful enough not to underline how clear it was that whatever that place was, it was far from legal.

A brilliant – probably a genius, considering his age – omega-specialized endocrinologist with a secret study in the middle of the city, relying on word of mouth to get his clients to him, all so careful about not to let anything get to their mates… Akashi could feel his blood boil in anticipation. He still wasn’t sure about what this man could offer to him practically, but the general outline of what was going on in there was enough to thrill him. It tasted of rebellion and it brought his mind back to the correctional facility and its horrors.

Midorima’s mouth twitched at the glint of gold suddenly in the omega’s eyes, but fixed his glasses on his nose again and went on. “It depends on what you need,” he answer, diplomatic. “And on your…situation.”

Akashi arched a brow, and Mibuchi filled the gap for him. “Sei-chan’s mate is a good person, sensei,” he stated, this time in all seriousness, “He’s not here for that, but he presented really late and he needs some kind of help with his heats.”

“ _Reo_.”

Midorima didn’t seem to acknowledge the scathing reprimand in the other’s voice, nor the glare that passed through the two omegas, but his shoulders relaxed slightly as he nodded. “In that case, he’ll be better off talking directly with Takao. I assume speaking with an alpha about the matter would be embarrassing. If you do not have any injury I need to take care of…?”

“None.” Akashi didn’t hesitate in speaking, but he did in tearing his glare from Reo’s stubborn expression. They’d have to have a talk about divulging secrets. While not openly apart of Seijuro’s secret, Mibuchi had been close to him enough to see him stiffen and tense at any and all mentions of heats and sex and presenting, and he must have drawn his conclusions, even if maybe not the correct ones. That Akashi was not going to have sex with Kuroko anytime soon, instead, was a simple certainty that everybody seemed to be already apart of.

“In that case, please, follow me for a second. Mibuchi-san, you can sit on the bed and take off your top, I’ll be back soon for the check up.”

Midorima didn’t wait to cross the room to a door on the right wall of it. Akashi spared a second to check on Reo, but the man meekly obeyed his orders and started undressing himself, completely at ease with the knowledge of being half naked in front of another alpha. It could be foolishness or trust, Seijuro didn’t know, but he held the other omega in too great consideration to accept the first. He followed the doctor.

The man kept the door open to him and Akashi found himself in nothing much different from a hospital ward. There were six beds, three in front of three, perpendicular to the door wall, all but one covered in white sheets and thick blankets. The latter was the furthest to the door on the right and showed just a bare mattress. There were pale blue cloth screens that could be pulled to divide the beds but at the moment they were folded and there were some cabinets against the furthest wall from their position. A man was knelt in front of one of those and rummaged through the contents while humming some kind of pop song to himself.

“Takao.” Midorima’s voice made Akashi almost flinch. For the firm coldness it still held, it seemed to melt around the edges of the name in a grumpy yet caring way: an involuntarily a-hundred-and-eighty-degrees turn. The man didn’t seem to notice the sweetness as he hit his head against the top of the cabinet and cursed. Akashi was sure he heard the doctor behind him sigh. “Idiot.”

“Shin-chan, don’t be mean!” the man yelled petulantly while pushing himself up on his legs and turning to glare at them. “What kind of doctor even are you? I just got hurt, you know!”

“It’s nothing your thick skull couldn’t handle, I’m sure,” Midorima flippantly rebuked, ignoring the pout he got in return to point with a hand to Akashi himself. “Here’s a new patient who needs to discuss something about his heats. This fool here–” Midorima’s hand moved smoothly to point to the approaching guy, someone probably around his age but with black hair almost as long as Reo’s and sparkling grey eyes that seemed eager to take in Seijuro’s form. It would have been upsetting at best if not for the scent clearly coming from the guy in ripped jeans and black long-sleeved shirt, “–is Takao Kazunari, unbelievably a nurse at the emergency ward of Tokyo Hospital. You’ll be in his care until he annoys you into leaving.” Both doctor and patient ignored the outraged “ _Shin-chan!_ ” that followed the last declaration. Takao’s eyes only snapped back to Midorima when he heard him finish: “I’ll be in the study with Mibuchi-san. Give us some time, would you?”

Akashi didn’t know Midorima. Akashi didn’t know Takao. But he didn’t like the former’s sentence nor the latter’s worried glance. Before he could comment on them, though, the doctor was already out of the room and closing the door behind him.

When he turned back to Takao, there was no trace of unease on the man’s expression anymore. “Sorry for Shin-chan. He’s got a stick up his ass most of the time, but he’s harmless, I promise.” He was smiling, blindly so, as if he hadn’t just cussed at who was probably his alpha, if the scent on him said anything. “I am Takao Kazunari, omega extraordinaire, at your service! Want to sit down?”

 

 

Midorima was methodical. He checked pulse, pressure, breathing, temperature, _all_ , before he finally picked his instruments for a blood test. Still, when he tied the tourniquet around the other’s arm, Reo looked pale and emaciated and all but healthy, despite the perfect values he had gotten in all the other tests.

Shintarou strived to ignore it as he pierced the skin with the needle.

“Do you think–” Reo cut himself off. He knew the alpha never gave answers without medical results in his hands. It wasn’t fair, he said, to crush or fuel someone’s hope without having any real evidence to do so.

And Midorima didn’t answer and he would never admit it, but he watched the vial fill and hoped.

 

 

Akashi still had to wrap his mind around the fact that there was an omega, just in front of him, who had the knowledge to handle a sea of pill tubes. The books on the glass cabinet Takao had the both of them sit close to, they all had his name written on, despite being for students of the Pharmacology Faculty, one that omegas definitely could never hope to attend. Nurses, yes, that could happen: they weren’t as specialized as alpha nurses who got to study for that, but some omegas could work in hospitals before getting mated or on their mate’s request, even if all they were allowed to do was pushing stretches, changing sheets and diapers and stuff like that. 

Takao was definitely the most illegal thing in the whole flat and it was oddly impressive. Akashi looked at him and for a moment forgot the reason of his presence there. That was, until the other opened his mouth.

“So, what about you tell me what the problem is and we can see how to fix it?”

He was one step away from puking. “ _I don’t need fixing_ ,” he hissed immediately, on reflex, and only seeing Takao flinch in surprise at his outburst made him wrestle his instinctive anger down.

Kazunari must have noticed his effort, because he relaxed slightly and nodded. “Okay, so what about you tell me why you are here?”

“I would like to know myself.” But he was being unfair, Akashi knew that much. He bit his tongue immediately after letting the words out and he shook his head to stop the other man from answering him. A deep breath, a second, a third. He wondered if illegal doctors were sworn to professional secrecy or not. But even if word was to get out, what could they do, after all? Tell him on Kuroko? “I presented at nineteen,” he decided to go with. “My first heat has been all but pleasant and I’d like for the experience to never repeat itself.”

Takao didn't look as surprised as Akashi thought he’d be. His lips stretched thin and his brows furrowed in thought at the mention of his age, but he only nodded at Seijuro’s last statement.

“Do you have a mate?”

“As of a month or so, yes.”

“Was he around for your last heat?”

“He helped me through it.” Akashi clicked his tongue, but let loose when he saw the flash of pity on Takao’s face at the obvious wrong assumption. “He cooled me off and helped feeding me. My mating has been arranged, but my alpha is aware I do not wish for any kind of sexual intimacy with him. Or at all for all that matter.”

Takao’s head tilted to a side, his hair falling slightly from the right side of his neck to bare the thin white scar of a bonding bite. Seijuro couldn’t help but notice it. The mark was surprisingly old for someone so young.

“Akashi-kun,–” he talked in low but firm words, not taking him for an idiot but not keeping the distance of his mate either, “–we are not going to tell anybody anything you say or ask for in here. We just want to help, in the best way possible for your situation. To do so, I’ll ask some personal question, but I really need you to be honest.”

He said _‘we’_. Kazunari spoke of Shintarou as if another half of him, with certainty that they shared the same goals and opinions, that they would work together no matter what. It was weird, for Akashi, and warming. He shrugged at the question. “Haven’t you started, already?”

Takao smirked in a way that could only be described as devious. “Oh, no, those were just routine!” he laughed. He drank a sip of the water he had poured for the both of them, but Akashi didn’t join him and just waited. “Akashi-kun, do you happen to be uninterested in your mate’s gender or in any gender in general? Or just in sex in general, perhaps?”

It was weirdly relaxing, to hear someone hinting at his sexuality before he himself had to reveal it. It made him hope Takao had already dealt with people like him. “I identify as asexual, I have for years now. My presenting has been a surprise and my heat…” He cringed. “As I said, I wish I could avoid a repeating altogether, but any way to make it even just a bit more bearable is well accepted.”

There was a block-notes in Kazunari’s hands, Akashi had noticed him grabbing it almost as soon as they sat down but only now the other wrote the first words on it. They said ‘ _heat erasure_ ’ and the man hummed to himself.

Akashi had his hand on the other’s wrist before he was even done underlying the words. His words came out in a low yet forceful, demanding and anxious, voice: “Is it possible?” He was sure his eyes were wide, and his mouth felt dry.

Takao flinched at the sudden touch, but his expression showed more surprise than fear and Seijuro didn’t let him go. He needed to know. If there was a way to stop _that_ …

“Uhm, do you mind?” Akashi let him go, but his eyes didn’t move, he didn’t even blink. The other omega sighed, shaking his head a bit. “Yes and no. In theory, it would be possible by removing the scent gland in your neck and some others around the body. It’s an invasive procedure and it’s permanent, irreversible, but it holds little actual risks and has a little biologic cost.”

“But…?” Seijuro asked, because he heard it in the other’s hesitance.

Takao’s eyes went sad. “ _But_ it’s an illegal practice. Even if we wanted to, we don’t have the means for such a surgery here, nor the instruments nor a sterilized room, nothing; not to mention, surgeries require a team and we do not have an anesthetist. Trust me, this is not shit you want to get in without being knocked off on drugs.”

_You could, but you can’t_. Akashi wanted to laugh, and it’d probably come out hysterical, at the thought. There was a _way_ for him to escape his heat and they _won’t let him_. The fury within him was mounting, though he was well aware it wasn’t aimed to the person in front of him. He just wanted to rip something to shreds, and he loathed that he was so far away from his room and all those clothes that he had yet to wear and stank of his old house still.

“Akashi-kun?”

He barely restrained a growl. “What?!”

“There are other ways,” Takao spoke, in a soft and reassuring voice that couldn’t completely mask the pity, but fused in empathy well enough for the other omega not to feel the need to wring his neck as it happened with Kuroko. Kazunari may be in front of him now, but his scent was an omega’s, he was a brother, he was like Reo, he had to be _protected, protected, protected._ He wasn’t the enemy.

Akashi’s brain worked slowly to clear his mind of the raw feelings messing with his instincts, and when he finally came down to himself he also managed to knock the intensity of his scent off a notch. Takao didn’t say anything but his shoulders relaxed a bit.

“Which ways?” Did he really have another choice in the matter?

“Pills,” was the merciless answer, accompanied by a shrug. “To make it the easiest possible, the active principle in the pill works as a fake neurotransmitter that gets in the way of the real one and prevents the brain from starting the production of the hormones that cause the heat to start. There’s also other stuff in there, obviously, and it comes with a few collaterals, like impulsive behaviour and some pregnancy-like stuff. For an example, you may gain some weight or have cravings, because your body may get confused and assume the lack of heat means you’re due to give birth, but it’s nothing too heavy and it will only last for a short while. In any case, you can always get off the drugs whenever you want; the withdrawal syndrome is pretty mild and would only result in migraine for a few days and possibly nausea.”

No heat. Akashi had to physically hold the seat of his chair with both his hands to keep himself anchored, and not lost after a fleeting hope. “Those are all the collateral effects?”

“Your fertility rate may suffer from the prolonged use.” Takao admitted, the butt of his pen hitting against the notebook page rhythmically. “Normally that’s why we advise omegas to be careful and not suppress all their heats. Aside from keeping up appearance with their mates if they aren’t aware about the treatment, some alphas don’t find anything to gain in keeping an omega that cannot give birth.”

“I do not plan to have a child,” Seijuro interjected.

Takao bit his tongue. “Will your mate accept your decision? We’ll give you the drug ourselves; he won’t need to know if you’re scared of his reaction. We can just find a way to trick him, and it wouldn’t be hard, trust me.”

Akashi felt his lips tug a bit at the corners, trying to get into a smile at the thought of how many stupid alphas in the whole city were getting tricked by their mates. The more he got to know about omegas, the more he respected them.

_Us_ , a little voice called in his head. _Us. You’re one of them too._

“My mate knows about my aversion to sex and the likes,” he admitted, shaking his head slightly. “He suspected today may be related to my heat, I’m sure he won’t have any problem if I were to get on these drugs to avoid it.”

Takao smiled a bit, somehow a bit shy. His scent, as stress rolled off of it, tasted like sugar-coated lime. “I’m happy for you,” he stated, sounding absolutely sincere, before going back to look at his block-notes. “Shall we get on with the last questions? After that, I should get your general measurement and also a blood sample to check your fertility rate, make sure your late presenting didn’t mess anything up and finally find the best dosage for you. Does this sound acceptable right now or would you prefer to take some time to think about it? It’s a serious matter, you don’t have to feel rushed.”

Akashi almost burst out laughing in his face.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eve and I wrote a little post on our take on some of the themes that have been brought up last chapter. Check it out >[here](https://agapantoblu.tumblr.com/post/161954152583/no-one-expected-this-to-be-easy-a-few%C2%A0)<.

 

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

 

Takao’s examination of Akashi was thorough. Questions after questions were asked, and some bordered on indecency. A spit sample, a blood sample and a urine sample were taken; and in an hour Akashi was being escorted back to the door to Midorima’s study. The whole plant of the place betrayed how it hadn’t been thought with a medical purpose, but Akashi knew it was more than anyone could hope for. Kazunari knocked on the door twice, and stood waiting, in silence, until a voice called him in from the other side. 

Akashi had relaxed while with the omega nurse, but he felt his shoulders stiffen again instinctively when he realized Reo was nowhere to be found. His eyes scanned the room and the little entrance, but all that was left of the other omega was a thick scent filled with something bitter and acrid that Seijuro could not yet identify but instinctively knew as _bad_.

“Mibuchi has gone back to his car, already,” Midorima said, probably noticing his reaction. He fixed the glasses on his nose even though they didn’t need it and the gesture came off nervous enough to nullify the soothing meaning of his words. “He wanted to have a smoke and said he’d be waiting for you in the parking lot.”

Akashi had never seen Reo smoking. It didn’t seem like it would suit him.

“Akashi-kun chose for the suppressants,” Takao’s voice startled him from his thoughts, though he didn’t show it, but didn’t completely erase the uneasiness from his mind. Reo’s anise scent was too sour in his nose.

Midorima and Takao talked for a while. The results of his tests were all in the average so the probabilities of an irregular heat cycle were really low. They considered weight and height and found a dosage for him, so the alpha scribbled it on a piece of paper that he placed in a plastic bag together with three packs of pills.

Takao hesitated as Seijuro took it. “You sure you won’t get in troubles with your mate? We can hide them in a flyer or pass them off as another medicine, it’s really not that hard.”

Akashi was impressed with the system the two had running, but shook his head nonetheless. “My mate–” he stumbled on the word, unsure about the right term to describe the agreement between him and Kuroko, “–won’t have a problem with this. It’s a choice about my body, and therefore it’s mine alone to take.”

Takao blinked at his words, but it was Midorima who nodded along with them. “Have a safe trip, then. And be back next week so we can see that the pills are working well, nanodayo.”

 

 

Akashi found Reo smoking. It really didn’t suit him. 

He was leaning against the driver door of his car and his lips had left a thin smudge of pink lipstick on the cigarette butt. His posture wasn’t as elegant as before, though he straightened up when he noticed Seijuro approaching, and there was a lucid veil over his slightly reddened eyes. He turned the stick off against the plastic cigarettes holder in his hand and then moved to open the door and put it back in the car before Akashi had a chance at confrontation.

The anise in the air was faint as if dried up.

Akashi moved to the passenger seat and waited until he had closed the door before he turned to openly stare at Reo. His scent was rapidly filling the interior of the car, and Seijuro had to physically put his hand on the manual transmission to prevent the other from reversing the car and leaving the parking spot.

Mibuchi looked at him like he was surprised by his action, which made Akashi arch a brow. “I’m not letting you drive when you look one second away from bursting into tears,” he said. “What happened?”

He had no business to ask, he knew, but Reo was crumbling and every single fiber of him refused to let it happen. _Help, help, help._

Mibuchi gulped. His scent shifted a bit, revived but still bitter, so much bitter. Akashi felt like he was smelling the other’s pain. It was utterly unpleasant and heart-breaking.

“I got checked for pregnancy.” Akashi stiffened, just a bit, but Reo shook his head, letting his hands fall in his lap and his head against the rest behind it. The little ponytail that’d been holding his locks was coming loose, but he didn’t seem to have noticed. “It was negative again and…” He shrugged, but it was not in indifference. The opposite. Akashi could see all the pain that didn’t fall, didn’t move of an inch from the other’s shoulders. “It was the last chance, so. It’s done now.”

Akashi wasn’t used to giving comfort. Momoi had been the only one to ever go to him, the cold unreachable heir of the Akashi Group, for such a reason and their bond was completely different from any other normal one. Still, he tried. “How come ‘ _the last_ ’? If that’s what you want, couldn’t you and Mayuzumi try again?”

Reo shook his head, and Akashi found himself moving a strand that had been lost from the ponytail back behind his ear. He felt the other lean into the touch of his knuckles and he let him. Mibuchi took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

“Chihi and I have been trying for years now,” he whispered, his voice as wet as his cheeks refused to be. “But Midorima said it was getting too dangerous for me. That with my physical situation and the residual effects of the suppressants I’ve been on since presenting, a pregnancy will soon be too risky for me to go through. He put the safety line to last summer, but I wrestled this winter out of Chihiro. It was my birthday on September, this was the first heat since then. Chihiro is not going to risk it past this point and... it’s just negative _again_.”

Akashi felt the shudder in Reo’s frame vibrating against his fingers and his hand opened to cup his cheek out of its own volition. His other hand, latched to his plastic bag.

“Aren’t there other ways?” he asked, “Adoption or fostering or…”

“We’re already looking into them, just in case,” Reo sniffed. He had yet to start crying, but the brokenness in his voice was well enough to convey his state. “It’s okay, I’m okay with that, I don’t mind, it’s just…” He ran a hand violently down his face, exhaling loudly. “This is exactly what Chihi’s parents said would happen. That our mating made no sense because I had so little chances of giving him a child. And I know it doesn’t matter, I know Chihi doesn’t care, but it’s still… it’s all…” When he turned his head to look at Seijuro, there was an old reopened wound in his eyes. “I just hate that they were right about me.”

“They _weren’t_.” Akashi’s hiss surprised him too. He could feel the spot deep in his chest where it came from, and it was full of fire and magma.

He had never met Chihiro’s parents yet he could imagine them all the same: a carbon copy of what his father and his friends had been, covered in expensiveness to hide the abuse underneath the bond, unable to process any relationship that wouldn’t produce a gain of some kind, cold and ruthless even to their own children yet demanding nephews of them. They were all the same, alphas of the worst kind that made Kuroko and Momoi the _exceptions_ to a disgusting rule.

“Chihiro chose you for a reason that has no ties to your fertility rate,” he continued. “If he’s choosing to stop here, it’s to protect you and that alone means you are for him the only mate he’s willing to have.” Mibuchi made a humid sound, but he brushed at his eyes and they looked drier than before. Akashi didn’t move his hand, but thought about what Satsuki would do in this situation and he attempted: “Defending Mayuzumi goes against every principle of mine, but I guess in comparison to the average he is not _too bad_ of a match.”

_That_ startled a laugh out of Reo.

Akashi had officially exhausted his words of comfort, so he just sat there, trying to will his scent to turn into a soothing flavour to help the other omega relax, but unsure if he were managing. The pills in his lap weighted a ton now.

“I apologize.” It was not in his nature, to feel like this. Being usually always right had made him rusty on the matter of how to act when he accidentally hurt someone. Reo looked at him in surprise, and Akashi sighed a bit. “It can’t be easy for you to watch me choose _these_ –” He gestured to the bag, “–with all that’s going on for you. I wasn’t aware, and I’ve been insensitive without meaning to. I’m s–”

“ _Don’t_.”

Seijuro widened his eyes at the sudden intervention, and Reo’s hand on the one of his that was holding the pills, and how the other omega was shaking his head vehemently. This was not how he had predicted this to go.

“Sei-chan, don’t.” Reo repeated, probably noticing his expression. “This is not the same, at all, and you know it. Chihi and I have been mates for years and by our choice. I don’t mean to assume, but from what I know, the situation between you and Kuroko-chan is completely different.”

Akashi stiffened, just a bit, yet he strived to hide it.

He was not helpless in Kuroko’s hands, they had a deal, and Reo would not use this against him. It took his mind three repeats of such a concept before he could relax and answer.

“Our situation is more similar to a business deal,” he admitted. “We are beneficiating from the mating as I am not forced into anything I don’t wish for, and he is not tied to me exclusively but has something on paper to turn down potential suitors he’s not interested in.” Kuroko had joked about it, once, in a very deadpan way. Akashi had a feeling he’d been fending off offers for mates times and times again before accepting the one his father made. “There is no romantic involvement from either part so, yes, the situation is quite different from yours and Chihiro’s.” There was also the little matter of his asexuality and repulse for sex.

Reo simply nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer. Romantic bonds were rare, anyway: Akashi guessed Mibuchi was actually the odder one, at the moment.

“Sei-chan, this is not even about mates or not mates, romance or business. This is about _your_ _body_ , and that makes it your choice to make, and yours alone. Kuroko wouldn’t get to have a say on the matter even if you were mutually in love, because he wouldn’t be the one to put his future on the line, to bear the risks of an eventual pregnancy and to face the major of its consequences. _You_ would. And if you’re not up to it, if you don’t want to, for any reason in this world, that’s fine.” Reo’s eyes were fiery as he looked at Seijuro. “It takes two people to choose to have a child, Sei-chan, but only one to choose not to. You get to say _no_ , and you get to say _never_. This has nothing to do with me or my choices, or with Kuroko, or with anybody else.”

Seijuro kept quiet. _No_ had been an answer he’d desperately clung to since his presenting, terrified in spite of himself of the moment it would be ripped from him. The pills in his lap, his bond with Momoi, his tentative alliance with Kuroko, they were all big _No_ ’s to his biology, to the system and to the whole society. He knew, objectively, that he’d received support from a few people before today, but this was the biggest act of rebellion to the others and of acceptance of himself that he’d ever done.

He was an omega and he was asexual. He was not a walking oxymoron or a freak of nature. The pills were just a push to make it easier to mix the two things into creating a more united, more defined, new Akashi Seijuro.

He nodded silently, and Reo smiled a bit at him. The man took a deep breath after a few minutes, and started the car.

 

 

They parked in front of Kuroko’s door, and were not that surprised to see another car outside the garage. Considering the stiffening of Reo’s shoulders and the promise from some hours ago, Akashi guessed they had Chihiro over for dinner. Whether before he’d been a bit sceptic, with how the visit went he was absolutely sure this was not a good idea. 

Reo’s hands clenched on the steering wheel. “I don’t know how to tell him.”

Akashi really, _really_ , hated defending Mayuzumi. “He cares for you more than to have a baby, Reo. It will hurt him for a while, but he won’t go down as long as you’re by his side.” He would deny ever saying this words under the pain of torture until death finally took him away.

Reo’s look in his direction said he knew how hard it was for him and held a little flash of gratitude that couldn’t be voiced before the door opened and Chihiro stepped out.

Akashi let Mibuchi get off first and fling himself into his mate’s arms. He guessed from the shaking of his shoulders that the tears were finally falling, and he could have sworn Chihiro’s eyes were a bit humid too, before they closed and the man hid his face in his lover’s black hair. Then, the younger omega took the chance to slip out of the car and past the two, allowing them their intimacy, to move inside the house.

He wasn’t surprised by Kuroko’s presence in the living room, he had grown better at noticing his mate, nor by the light shade of worry in his eyes. There was nothing to hide, he guessed, since the other two’s reactions spoke for themselves, so he shook his head a bit.

Tetsuya looked suffering. “It must be an harsh blow for Mibuchi-san.”

Akashi didn’t know what to add, so he just nodded. Kuroko must have noticed the bag in his hand, but didn’t comment in it. Instead, he said he was going up to his study to work a bit and leave the couple free reign on the lower floor, to discuss and comfort each other.

Seijuro watched him climb the stairs in silence. He moved to the kitchen when he heard steps in the entrance and picked one of the four dishes already prepared on the table, labels on them indicating the respective owner in Murasakibara’s round calligraphy, then he hightailed to his room.

Reo’s pain was something he ought to share with his mate, that much he knew, and others would only be an intrusion.

He ate lunch silently on his bed, mulling over his father’s stroke if he were to see him now and staring at his pills and thinking. He agreed with Mibuchi that it was all his own choice and nobody else’s, but solitude didn’t sit well with him at the moment. What he had with Kuroko wasn’t romantic by a mile, but it was the beginning of a friendship that seemed to soothe them both at times, when it didn’t wear on their nerves to the point of almost snapping them.

This was not Kuroko’s choice, but it was Akashi’s to decide to inform him about this step.

He moved out of his room and to Kuroko’s study discretely, confident in having his three pills bottles hidden separately in three different spots of his room. Just in case.

When he knocked, Tetsuya absentmindedly let him in, and he found the alpha hunched over the computer, staring, no, _glaring_ at strings of numbers and words on the screen. It was mildly amusing.

Impatience wasn’t what he felt at the thought of the discussion he wanted to open with the alpha, so he decided to sit on one of the chairs in front of the desk and wait for the other to be done with whatever was so clearly blowing his brain up.

As he waited, he thought.

It was nothing short of disconcerting, to realize he actually _trusted_ Kuroko. For someone who’d been at war with the world far before presenting and with how the whole mating thing had started, Akashi would have never expected to find himself wondering about breaching such a dangerous secret to none other than his alpha.

He eyed Kuroko reading, typing, scribbling, all with a frown on his forehead as if translating something from an arcane language to current Japanese. The fact that he was merely checking his business financials – something Seijuro had been taught to do at thirteen – was amusing and _vaguely_ endearing. Now, if only Midorima’s voice wasn’t whispering serious admonishments in his ear.

Akashi understood his stance. What went on within the walls of the apartment 24 fit nicely in the shape of _treason_ and the risks were not only for the doctor’s to bear. Midorima had been weird about it, but there was no doubt he loved his mate and believed in his mission; if the wrong people were to discover about their study, not only Takao but most surely all of their patients would see Hell.

The memory of the facility slipped in between his thoughts and he steeled himself not to flinch when the loud bang went off in between his ears, loud and real, _so real_. A crumpling faceless body made him fidget in his seat. Kuroko’s eyes slipped on him immediately, impassive but searching.

Postponing and procrastinating, Akashi decided, were a waste of time he was not going to engage into.

“There is a way for me to get rid of my heats.” He fired, took no prisoners, and then waited for the casualties count.

Akashi had decided even before entering the room that he would not sell anybody who was involved, not even to his mate. The risks were too high, and he refused to let others bear the fallout of his choices. His alpha was trustworthy, he held little doubt about the matter, but he would prioritize those like him, always, as his instincts told him to.

_Omegas look out for each other._

Kuroko blinked. He set the pen down and leaned away from the computer screen to lay against the backrest of his chair. He hesitated only a second, probably taking in the news, before opening his mouth.

“Is it safe?”

_Safe._ Akashi felt something squeeze in his chest.

He arched a brow. “Is this the first question that comes to your mind?”

“Would you answer any other question I may have?”

_No_. Akashi kept it for himself, though. No point in underlying what was obvious to the both of them: Seijuro had been growing to accept his nature, something Tetsuya himself had hoped he would, and now that same acceptance was evolving into belonging, affiliation, and a kind of _loyalty_ born of oppression and refusal to fear. Akashi didn’t think about how different he had felt in regard of the same thing only weeks ago.

_Is it safe?_ He also refused to think about the impossible surgery.

He didn’t.

“Yes,” he said instead. “Only minor side effects of the pills I’ll have to take. Possibly headaches and cramps and some behavioural or mood change, due to the conflicting hormones in my body, but nothing worth worrying for.” Effects that surgery wouldn’t have or not forever, that he wouldn’t have to face if Midorima had access to a real hospital, if he were allowed to work in safe conditions for his patients regardless of their second gender. “I won’t be the first to undergo that treatment. It’s really safe.”

Once again, Kuroko barely reacted. “You’re not asking for permission, Akashi-kun,” he stated it blankly, without aggression or rage. “I know you’re not, and I don’t think you should, so I wonder. Is there a reason for you to tell me this?” 

_Putting you to the test. Monitoring your reactions. Finding something. I don’t know._ “Why did you agree to find me a job?”

Deflection wasn’t usually a weapon in Akashi’s hands, but in the study, snuggled on a chair under the cold light of a winter day, curled like a cat and filled with hope and frustration in equal parts, he decided that he could make an exception for once. And Kuroko’s smile in response was enigmatic and just as much vague, barely there and then it was gone.

They let the silence lull them to their own thoughts for a while, confortable in their shared middle ground, not pulling, not pushing. Akashi knew it wasn’t enough, not enough to go back to the person he was before presenting, to go back to freedom and self-efficacy, but for now it would work.

“You are your own person, Akashi-kun. I do not wish to take that from you.”

A step in the right direction. For now, it could be enough.

“The pills will suppress all of my heats for as long as I take them and they may leave me sterile if I do not take breaks from them every once in a while.” He barrelled through, staring deep into Kuroko’s unchanging eyes. “I do not plan on having an heat ever again, nor I wish to bear children. My fertility is therefore inconsequential and useless to me, and I won’t mind giving it up in exchange for the benefits of the treatment.”

From downstairs, Reo’s and Mayuzumi’s voices were low whispers that blew around the house like a soft breeze. Their pain was real and worthy of respect, but so would be Seijuro’s if he were to be forced into the same situation those two had so much hoped for. Kuroko was right: Akashi was his own person, and Reo was a completely different one. What would be Heaven for one, would be Hell for the other. There was not right or wrong.

Kuroko nodded simply, adding nothing. Akashi felt somehow heavier, more anchored to the floor and not lost in a hurricane as before.

He nodded too, but didn’t move from his chair, and he watched Kuroko going back to his work.

 

 

Takao locked the room to the empty nursery at half past five, several hours earlier than usually by any other day of the week, but just in time for any Wednesday. He turned, and he found Shintarou standing in front of his desk, staring at him with his green eyes dark and intent. 

He was mentally living through the next few hours, considering outcomes and plans, strategizing like the shogi player he was. In truth, they both knew they’d be helpless in just an hour or so.

Kazunari moved forward, went on his tiptoes to cup his mate’s face in his hands and kissed him. It took a few seconds for Midorima to start responding, and when he did he wrapped his arms around his lover’s waist and pulled him flushed against his body, as if trying to physically take him in and sheltering him in the warmth of his ribcage.

Takao pulled back before the other could mess up his hair. Shintarou sighed, but let him go.

“Let’s get this over with,” he said. _Let us not be late, please, don’t_ , he thought.

They reached their car in silence, their hands entwined, and when they sat Takao put today’s cancer lucky item, a little azure bear plush, in his lap. He played with his arms, moving them as if demanding for an hug, humming some song to himself, lower and lower the closer they got to their destination.

By the time Midorima parked in front of his parents’ house, his mate had fallen quiet and his head had lulled forward, slightly bowed. Shintarou hated this shape of him so badly, but forced himself to only outstretch a hand to touch a trembling wrist, mindful for the gesture not to be visible by the windows.

Takao hummed a note, and that was the most encouragement he could give at the moment. It had to be enough.

By the time they got off the car and made it to the door, this had already opened and Shintarou was met with the peaceful smiling expression of his black-eyed mother.

He gulped down the questions – _what happened?, when did he do that?, are you okay?, can’t you just leave with me, mom, why does this keep happening?_ – and just moved his hand to Kazunari’s back. Apparently, he roughly pushed him in; really, he steeled himself on the feeling of warm skin against his fingertips to prevent himself from moving them to his mother’s face.

“Shintarou,” she said, her voice even and gentle, fond, but her scent wiped clean, inexistent under the musky one of his father. “You’re just in time.”

All the bruises on her stared at him in accusation, but Takao’s eyes met his from under his bangs and bowed head, and they held trust. The three of them moved forward inside.

Midorima Shou was an old man. He had three sons from three different omegas, and Shintarou just happened to be the youngest and closest one. Of his brothers, Shuusei, the second, lived in Kyoto and directed one of the biggest hospitals there under their family’s name; Sentarou, the first, had presented an omega, and Shintarou had never seen him in his life. Shuusei remembered him briefly, but had never seen him again after the day he got his first heat.

Midorima Shou was a cruel man. He had three sons from three different omegas, and Shintarou just happened to be the least cruel and most faithful one. The man wore a green silk kimono and a permanent scowl, thin glasses on a big nose and before little dark eyes, under pitchy black hair pulled backward. His arms were always crossed when his gaze laid on Takao, had been since always.

Takao had known it would have been bad, to bond into such a family. His situation hadn’t been the best, his beta father having no money and two omega children used to working three jobs, his omega mother lost in an alpha brawl when he was still so young, but they had loved each others tenderly. Falling for a Midorima during his time at the hospital had been illogic, and he had known and his father had tried to dissuade him, because such an old family, with such a reputation, would have brought him so much pain. But he had told himself over and over again that Shintarou was worth it. And he _was_ ; it was just hard to remember when Shou sat at the head of the table, completely ignoring his mate slowly sitting at his side, to just glare at his approaching son.

Shintarou only sat at his father’s side, in front of his mother, to avoid having Takao doing so. He only went along with this tradition, with this weekly dinner, because Shou was a powerful man and Shuusei had grown up to be like him, and they had to be careful if they didn’t want Kazunari to be taken away. It was an articulate fine web of blackmail that Shou hadn’t even realized he had set: he considered Takao a caprice, a temper tantrum of a young man who’d soon be bored of his old toy; even the bond scar – technically a lifetime commitment – was nothing but a minor inconvenience that could be dealt with easily.

Takao knelt down on the tatami, not too far but just _properly close_ to his mate, just within striking distance _if the need were to arise_. Shintarou’s hand twitched as if to pull him close, but stood still on his thigh.

“What is this?” Sometimes Shou was in a good mood and he spent his time talking about hospitals and money and future to his son, ignoring everybody else in the room. But sometimes he was in a foul mood and his eyes prayed on Takao like an eagle on a sparrow. “What are those dark bags under his eyes? Is he not even good enough to lazy around all day? The more I look at him the firmer I believe you should have taken Miyu as a mate.”

Takao kept his eyes on the empty dish in front of him and willed his body not to react at the mention of his younger sister. He was tempted to look at Shou’s mate, at times like these, though he felt like her name was lost and forgotten, replaced with harsh ‘ _you_ ’s, ‘ _omega_ ’s and ‘ _whore_ ’s. He was afraid to find her smiling peacefully as always, her face forever stuck under her mask.

“I do believe them to be my fault, this time.” Shintarou’s voice was firm, distanced and cold like when he was making a diagnosis. It was a rehearsed script, and he had never had the skills for dramatic arts.

Shou’s frown deepened. “He’s not in heat.”

“There has been an accident with some patients in the psychiatric ward yesterday. Some things in my office got broken and my clothes and carpet stained. I had him clean it in time for this morning, and then he had his shift at the geriatric yard.”

“He shouldn’t be there at all, he should be home,” Shou’s voice raised, despite his son’s keeping even. Takao knew this was not going to end well, no matter what they came up with. “How many years have you been mated already? And where’s your heir?”

Shintarou’s knees were pressed together hard. All of his reactions were strictly limited to the half of his body that rested unseen under the table; the half above was strictly frozen in immobility. “I told you I do wish to wait until I am done with my specialization before I have children. As it is, my time is–”

“It’s not your time that should go after your children, it’s your mate’s, if he ever stops playing and starts taking his role seriously as he should. Perhaps he’s forgotten how much his life has improved through this mating and how generous we’ve been with his family when paying for him. Have you, omega? Look at me.”

Takao knew better than to disobey and he usually knew better than to meet the man’s eyes. He moved his gaze to the other’s mouth and strived to keep it there despite the disgust written all over the curve of those lips.

“ _I_ require of him to be at hospital with me. I much prefer to have him under my watch than alone at home.”

Wrong words. It was clear far before Shou slammed his palm against the table. “That’s because you’ve clearly not trained him properly!” Takao flinched, and he saw his lover’s mother doing the same from the corner of his eyes, so he hastily dropped his gaze again. Shou took a deep breath, as if to calm himself, but there was hardly any calmness even in the cold voice that followed. “If you need to watch over him, it means he hasn’t felt your eyes on him enough to behave when you’re not present. After this long already, it’s unacceptable, Shintarou.” His arms crossed again. “If you cannot take care of his discipline, I can–”

“I am perfectly able to discipline my omega on my own, Father,” Shintarou’s voice snapped just a bit too fast, just a bit too daring, cutting off the end of a sentence that had fear spreading like oil in the water inside Takao’s lungs.

He could count on a single hand the times that Shou had taken on himself to correct him. It had always happened when Shintarou wasn’t around to stop it, to prevent it, but it had happened and the memory would forever burn in his mind. Instinctively, he shivered, and the gesture called unwanted attention on him.

“It doesn’t seem so to me,” Shou said, a hand waving in his direction dismissively. “He hasn’t even bothered with wearing a traditional clothing before coming here, he’s disobedient and per your admission untrustworthy, so what else are you going to let him off with? I’ve been telling you to deal with the matter many times already, Shintarou.”

Shintarou turned to look at Takao directly, and he struggled not to seek refuge in the familiar green of those eyes. He sat still instead and waited.

Tap, tap, tap. A bandaged index hit the table three times and signalled the start of a new act that made Takao’s stomach torch uncomfortably.

“I will agree with you that my omega seems to be lacking, tonight.” Shintarou stood up and grabbed Takao’s arm roughly, pulling him up to his feet with no care about the twisting of his body or his knees hitting the table. “But I will deal with this alone. I may remind you, I am not a child anymore, Father.”

Shou’s dismissive gesture got lost to Takao has he picked on the subtlest shift in the air, a lonely scent of wasting flowers rising in worry for a moment before dying out again. He didn’t look at Shintarou’s mom, but he wished once more he’d remembered to ask his mate for her name. She was the kind of meaningless mob character you forgot about as soon as the scene with them finished, but instincts were hard to ignore.

Shintarou dragged him down alleys and up stairs, all the way to his old room, and then he pushed him in roughly. He made sure to lock the door behind himself, and Takao tried to speak, but found himself assailed by a body so much bigger than his.

“Shut up.” He staggered back a few steps, enough to find himself hitting his back against the wall, in between an old desk and a perfectly made futon on the floor. “ _Shut up._ ”

He did so, and let Shintarou bury his face in the side of his head, the crook of his neck, breathing deep against their shared scar, kissing it as if in fear it had disappeared somehow under the fury of his father’s words. His hands run to his mate’s back and he allowed himself a second to relax too, before he heard steps taking the stairs after them.

Shintarou pulled back with difficulties, as if it was physically hard for him to do so, and his gaze was haunted as he ran on his lover’s face. Finally, when he let go, Takao turned sideways to sit on the futon, his legs pulled to his chest and embraced by his arms, and watched, silent, as his lover took his leather belt off.

Shintarou hated belts. He only put them on for their visits at his father’s place. He bent it in half and held it firmly by the buckle.

They both waited for the steps to be close enough to the door, and then Takao waited a bit longer, until he felt the crack of leather against the wooden surface of the desk padded in papers, to let out a low moan with sealed lips.

Shintarou looked desperate, his body moving but his eyes widened in horror, and Takao couldn’t take the sight, so he closed his eyes and faked another whimper as another crack filled the room.

They kept on and he whimpered, moaned, wailed, until he stopped faking and started crying for real. He thought about the people in the clinic every day and he moaned at every crack. He thought about Reo and Akashi, so lucky with their mates and darkly ironically so unlucky with their own bodies, and he wailed. He sobbed for every time he had to patch a sibling up and every time he had to hold Shintarou’s shivering form for someone they couldn’t save; he sobbed for another night of helplessness and for the knowledge he should be thankful he only had to deal with words like those once a week and from someone who was not his mate; he sobbed because he couldn’t bear the thought of bearing kids and having them go through this same Hell or worse. He flinched every time he heard a crack despite knowing no harm would come his way as long as his mate was there.

The steps left and Shintarou faked two more hits before throwing the belt all the way to the other corner of the room and dropping to his knees in front of his mate, arms ready to engulf him and an apology written in the way he was biting his lower lip. Takao cowered in his chest and they adjusted themselves to sit with their backs against the wall and Kazunari flushed against Shintarou’s chest.

Sweet nothings were murmured in the stale air; promises of safety that had no reason to be renewed as they’d never been broken before, but that it still felt necessary to repeat, to make realer.

Takao eventually calmed down enough to take a deep breath and Midorima deemed it safe to let go of him for just those few seconds it took him to grab the comforter’s corners and pull them protectively around their bodies.

“Rest,” he said, because dealing with his father was tiring for him and downright terrifying for his lover. Soon, he’d go downstairs and finish the meal alone, adducing Takao’s battered state as an excuse for his absence, and then, after they’d have left, in the deep of the night, he would take his lover to the crappiest fast food he could find and watch him gulp down fries and muster up his smile again. In the morning, back in their own house, he would pour tea in the cups with their names painted in Takao’s creative handwriting and he would open the cakes he’d bought today in prevision of a nightmarish family dinner. Soon, but for a second longer he took a break too.

Takao hummed, nuzzling the other’s shoulder. “Do you think it will ever change?”

Shintarou wondered about that ‘ _it_ ’. If it meant his father’s attitude, no, probably never. If it meant their current situation, yes, soon hopefully. If it meant their world, hell, he had no idea.

He said: “Let’s hope so.” And Takao fell asleep on him.


	17. Chapter 17

  

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

 

At six in the morning, Akashi gave up on all pretends of sleep. Despite not going to bed earlier than one – awkwardly shuffling around the house, spending minutes on the same line of his book without the words registering in his brain, slipping out of his room to spy on the blade of light under the door of Kuroko’s studio –, he had tossed in his bed the whole night. His sheets had felt like a sweaty scalding trap, and the dim light of the room like a helpless trap box for his thoughts to roam around and then come crashing into him. 

Akashi hated not being in control, and he had rarely felt like he were ever since his presenting.

The house was in an eerie silence when he was done changing and he ventured outside of his room. Murasakibara was nowhere to be seen, despite sometimes showing up early in the morning to bake whatever he woke up in need of, and the door to Chihiro’s room was still closed. Only by a chance Seijuro managed to spot the light movement in the kitchen and he almost froze before recognizing the pale blue tuft appearing from under the counter.

His padded steps couldn’t have been heard, but Kuroko still hummed in a low greeting as soon as Akashi approached and showed him a cup in offer.

It had become their morning ritual, in the latter days, to help around in the kitchen whenever their schedules allowed them to eat at the same time. Whenever _Kuroko’s_ scheduled allowed it, since Akashi’s was painstakingly empty besides the occasional meetings with Kise or Momoi and the surprise lunch-kidnapping from Reo.

Seijuro sighed, sitting down. Reo’s pain was not something he could help with, he knew. He wasn’t brought up to offer comfort or affection and neither he had ever been offered either, since his mother’s death and before meeting Momoi. His father’s concept of support was to write a check.

The food in front of them filled the kitchen with a sweet warm smell, and their own scents subdued as they started eating.

“It’s not out of the blue,” Tetsuya said. His expression was unreadable, as always, but Akashi had learnt to pick up from other signs what the emotions he was feeling were. Now, his fingers were buried deep in the neck fur of a silent Nigou, who was looking as dejected as his master felt. “They have been preparing themselves for the possibility for a long time. It doesn’t lessen the blow, but hopefully it will help them regain their balance soon. They’d make for a great family for any child.”

Akashi couldn’t help but nod a bit. For all his dislike for Mayuzumi, he could see that fierce protectiveness surrounding a child no matter what, and an intrusive voice in his mind won’t stop telling him that Chihiro wouldn’t be the kind of father to audition his kid if he were to present an omega. Recognizing him his merits was not as frustrating as it was relieving, honestly, even more so because Akashi knew that the alpha was not going to repudiate his mate. Reo’s inability to have children would have gotten him a ticket to a correctional facility years before this point, and that would have been–

_A shot. A scream. A body. He’s alive. He’ll probably wish he weren’t soon enough._

Akashi closed his eyes abruptly and his chopsticks clicked against his dish. He squeezed his eyelids as much as he could as if doing so he could milk the memories out of his mind, but it only served to make them fell much more vivid and real. Made it easier for his mind to swap faceless frames with Reo’s scared figure.

Nigou wailed lowly from beside his owner. Seijuro took a deep breath.

“Your phone was delivered yesterday,” Tetsuya said. It was a worthy distraction technique and Akashi appreciated the gesture by looking once more at his mate’s face. “I am sorry I forgot to let you know. Yesterday was a bit hard on everyone, I guess.”

_To put it simply._ “And here I thought you would say you didn’t inform me because I didn’t ask.”

Kuroko seemed to relax a bit at his attempt of humour. “Had Akashi-kun asked, I would have remembered, indeed. I take back my apologies.” He stood up. “I’ll go get it in my study.”

_Theft. Shall I take that your omega has tried to escape from you? Because in that case, I’ll have to take him with me and to a correctional facility._

“What do you know about the correctional facilities?”

Akashi could see the alpha freeze in the periphery of his vision, but he didn’t turn to look at him. Those were…the wrong words. He was not supposed to say that, not like this, not when not even he himself had any idea about _why_ he wanted know. His mouth tasted like ashes now. His scent turned sour and bitter. 

He lifted his eyes and saw Kuroko’s expression losing for a second his mask of blankness, in favour of something dark that disappeared too quickly to be recognized. The alpha swallowed almost imperceptibly before answering back. “What do you know about our political system?”

Akashi frowned at that. “I know that the Imperial family is not much more than a doll for the population to look up to and play dress with. All the decisions are taken by the High Council, and the laws become executive as soon as the members reach an agreement, either by unanimity or majority. The spots in the Council are not elective but hereditary, so the title passes down from alpha parent to alpha child, and no outsider can ever join in.”

Kuroko gestured for him to follow him upstairs. “Akashi-kun knows pretty much the most important points. The Council works on seven members, to ensure a majority, and the only chance to a substitution is if, for any chance, a family goes extinct with no heirs. In other words, the country is ran by the same seven families since the actual structure was set up.”

“My father used to try to be as close as possible to the members of the government, but I think he only ever got one or two of them to our house,” Akashi frowned. They had reached the door to Kuroko’s studio, and he trusted the discussion to somehow relate to his question, but there was something that was bothering him. “You say seven,–” he states, watching Kuroko unlock the door, “–but I know the actual Council is made of six people. It’s the reason so many laws are taking so long in being officialised, since most of the voting end three on three and block the whole process.”

“Alpha’s instincts make them competitive even when they agree on something,” Kuroko agreed. “All of them want to feel like their vote is the most important and, like all old families, they can be quite petty.”

In the studio, Kuroko didn’t move to his desk, despite the brand new phone box on it. Instead, he headed for the bookshelf in front of it and casually pulled a section as big as a TV screen forward, revealing a secret opening behind it and the sturdy face of a metal safe.

Akashi wasn’t as surprised by the existence of it, as he was by the fact that he was being put apart of it so easily. Even more surprised he was when Kuroko turned to him with a slight frown. “I’ve heard the mistaken counting on the news too. It’s actually quite rude of them. Just because I am easily overlooked and follow my father’s choice of not taking part to politics, they shouldn’t feel entitled to erase my family from the registers of the Council.”

It took a few seconds to register in Akashi’s brain, and he felt quite angry with himself after that because, _obviously_.

He had known since the beginning that the Kuroko family used to be strong in the politics, but chose to remove itself years before. The only real, actual political matters, though, were discussed in the Chamber of the High Council. It was mathematics, and Akashi’s mating became even more important. Masaomi had been trying for years to get his hands so up on the social ladder despite knowing that it was impossible for an outsider, but if his son mated the son of one of those families, suddenly he had a claim, a thread to get in.

It was sick. Akashi almost didn’t notice Kuroko opening the safe, too busy digging his nails in his palms and wondering just how much had his father planned to earn from his selling, acting so disgusted on him while trying to exploit his situation to every possible extent–

Kuroko’s voice took him away from his thoughts, calling his attention to four leather notebooks he had just taken from the safe. They all looked old and quite dusty, seemingly abandoned since who knows how long. They each had a latch keeping them close, and Tetsuya offered them to him with an empty look in his eyes.

“My father was in the Council,” he said. “Like my grandmother before him, he was trying to improve the situation, moving toward equality for all secondary genders. Just like her, he also met quite the resistance. Before I was born, he had tried to get the abrogation of all laws objectifying omegas, in favour of a acknowledgement of the fact that they are, well, _people_.” Kuroko let himself sat on one of the chairs in front of his desk, and sighed. “They turned that on him. Things can’t be hold accountable for what happens because of them, but people can; and if before any kind of _misbehaviour_ of an omega was to be dealt with by their mate, now they were a matter of social security.”

Seijuro knew where this was going. He felt the blood slowing in his veins, dragging against his skin like sandpaper. “They institutionalized the correctional facilities.”

Kuroko looked haunted, but nodded firmly. “My father didn’t take it well. All his and his mother’s work had been used as an excuse to justify just another form of abuse. He stopped showing up at the Council meetings shortly after that. Without a seventh member, the other six saw it as an opportunity to try to gain more power by forming alliances among themselves. They couldn’t ask for a new member for as long as he was alive in any case, or that would have created a dangerous case for future exploits. Also, none of them was interested in pursuing the one stubborn fool always advocating for the omegas so they just… quietly let him go and pretended he was not supposed to be there to begin with. If nothing, as you said, leaving them in even number slowed down the whole process of decision-making quite a lot.”

That seemed… Seijuro didn’t know. On one hand, he had in front of himself the heir of the fool who caused the existence of the facilities, and one of the seven men with the actual power to change things but who had decided to just leave it, pretend it wasn’t his problem while the other six proceeded in their abuse. On the other, Kuroko’s father had probably been the only one trying to change things and the backlash from two generations of work turned on him must have been awful. How it must have felt, to see his attempt at saving someone ruin their lives so much? It sent shivers down his spine.

“What are these?” he asked instead. The leather was soft and overused under his fingers, and so cold. It smelled faintly of hot cocoa.

“My father loved my mother, Akashi-kun,” Kuroko said. “He believed the world begun and ended with her. She was a pure omega, fine and kind, the perfect exemplar of beauty and all manners, but with quite the stubbornness to her side and a strange ability to have people overlook her that she used to her own advantage.”

Kuroko didn’t look at him, but outside of the window, toward something that probably wasn’t even there. He looked _almost_ smiling, as he mentioned his parents. “When she got pregnant, he secluded our family even more. His position had always been unpopular, and I think he feared for his enemies to come after her or me in retaliation. By the times of which I have memories of my own, nobody but Mayuzumi’s side of the family was allowed here.”

Seijuro brushed his thumbs on the covers of the books as he mulled that over.

He could imagine how many enemies someone with Kuroko-san’s ideals could have; and if he really cared so much for his mate and son, they were a liability some people wouldn’t have hesitated to exploit. Removing himself from the political scene could have taken some attention off of him, but nobody would be so stupid as to believe a clan that spent two generations on something would stop to be a bother so simply. It made sense, for him to worry about his family, but such a reclusion seemed still such an exaggeration.

“When I was six, my father sent my mother to a correctional facility.”

Akashi’s grip on the notebooks almost loosened enough to let them fall, and he clenched his grip on them immediately after, to stop himself from flinching. “I thought you said he cared for her!,” was out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

“He did,” Kuroko assured, firm and finally looking at him again. “And she never did anything deserving of such a punishment anyway. I was never told what happened to cause such a choice, but whatever it was, my father took my mother back from that place no longer than three months later.”

Now, the alpha was frowning. He looked all in all as if he had been presented a difficult riddle to solve and was getting quite frustrated with it. “He was all over her, and she was no less clingy to both of us. I remember she looked like a mere shadow of the person I used to know, but my father saw that she could get back to health and happiness in every way.”

With a hand, he gestured to the books in Akashi’s hands. “Those, she had with her when she came back. She wrote them in the facility. They never talked about what they did to her in that place, or at least not where I could hear, and it seems to be a recurrent thing among those few omegas who make it out of there. The average person knows close to nothing about what happens inside the facilities, because of that. _I_ just know that my mother gave her diaries to my father and he spent months over them.”

“What did she write about?”

“If you open any of them, you’ll find out she wrote them in some kind of code.” This time, nothing could mask the annoyance in the alpha’s voice. “I never managed to crack it, no matter how much I tried. I wanted to ask for help, but I never trusted anyone with whatever secret my mother may have put in there.”

Akashi arched a brow. “And you’re trusting me with them?” His voice was not supposed to be so low, so full of need and interest. The leather under his fingers was warming up to his touch. The shadow of an older omega who’d been through hell and came back was making his skin crawl with the need to listen to her tale.

Something important was in the books in his hands, he knew it.

Kuroko smiled a bit, sardonically, even as he stood up and moved to go back to the kitchen and their abandoned breakfast, and he gave Akashi the unpleasant sensation of having his mind just read. “I have a feeling you and my mother would have gotten along spectacularly anyway.”

 

 

Akashi went back to breakfast in hope to catch sight of Reo, but Mayuzumi only left the room to come collect something for himself and his mate and just shrugged helplessly at his cousin’s wondering gaze. After that, he spent a few minutes getting his phone started and sent a text to Satsuki, which for some reason only resulted ‘sent’ and never ‘delivered’. Deciding she must have her mobile turned off for some reason, he slipped into the library at ground floor and stared at the notebooks for a while.

_Glared_ , maybe was the best word, as he felt an itching to read them that wore at his nerves. Nigou, his master abandoned, was sitting at his feet and slept soundly, indifferent.

Now that the rush from the revelations had worn off, Akashi could see that Kuroko’s story made no sense. For what reason on Earth would the defender of omega rights send his mate to a facility? Why would he take her back, and so soon at that? What would she write about, in so little time, to fill four notebooks? Why in code?

It was in full annoyance that Akashi picked the first notebook, a pen and some paper, and got started on the first page of meaningless words and letters and numbers.

 

 

He stopped at midday, when Murasakibara came to tell him that lunch was ready and _Mibu-chin_ was in the living room.

Akashi left everything down, and hurried to the other omega’s side.

Mibuchi looked as bad as he could be. There were dark bags under his eyes, which were reddened of their own, and his skin was ashen. He was drinking little sips from a glass of water and wearing comfortable clothes that smelled like his mate but not enough to hide the scent of dried tears. His own scent was still sour, but not the acid stench of slicing pain from the day before; like more of a deeper, drowned kind of pain. Maybe, Akashi thought, that was what resignation smelled like.

As soon as he sat on the couch, Reo put his glass down and fell to the side, propping his head on Akashi’s lap and sighing deeply. Seijuro hesitated for only a moment before deciding that Mayuzumi wasn’t in the mood for petty fight anyway and giving way to his instincts, placing a hand on the other’s shoulder and running the other in his hair.

“I’m going to adopt six,” Mibuchi sniffed in his lap, his voice just petulant enough to hide its trembling. “Maybe even seven. Nobody can stop me from doing that.”

Akashi hummed. “I imagine it will be fun to see Chihiro breaking down in hysterics after the first weeks of sleep deprivation.”

Reo chuckled weakly.

They ate in the living room, Murasakibara bringing their food to them before Kuroko and Mayuzumi were even done talking in the studio. The alphas joined them shortly after, though they picked the armchairs and let the two of them to their cuddling – alas, Reo’s cuddling against Akashi –.

Midorima called a few minutes later on Mibuchi’s phone, politely inquiring about his condition. Akashi got a few words in, mainly to reassure Takao – obnoxiously eavesdropping – that his mate had indeed moved no objection to his choice of suppressing. He thought the omega sounded off somehow, but decided not to push when so many people were listening.

The socializing seemed to take a toll on Reo anyway, and shortly after they were done eating he excused himself to go back to his room. Akashi was not surprised when Mayuzumi followed shortly after, bringing along two slices of a cake Murasakibara had claimed would help them both feel better.

Seijuro consumed his silently. It was sweet and delicious, but he wouldn’t have been able tell what it tested like if he were asked.

Now that he couldn’t do much more to help Reo, the matter of the books was back in his mind and he was anxious to go back to them. He wasn’t going to tell Kuroko he had cracked the code within the first three hours, not after he spent years trying and always failed, and he didn’t have much to report anyway since he had to decipher letter by letter. He was barely at page five, and had been so focused with the single words that the meaning of the whole sentences hadn’t much stuck.

Kuroko seemed to get his impatience, because he nodded slowly and collected both their dishes with some excuse about running a few errands later.

Seijuro returned to his hiding barely taking time to check his phone for any update from Satsuki, still finding none. After that, he dived back into his job.

 

 

When Chihiro entered his room, Reo was a cocoon of sheets and blankets with a mop of black hair and two sharp green eyes popping from the top.

“We need to contact Moriyama-san to tell him we chose to go on with the adoption route.” Not a preamble, nothing; simply a plan to go.

Chihiro laid both slices of cake in the middle of the bed and waited for his mate to pull the covers down just enough to offer his face. “Our evaluation was already perfect, I’m sure he’ll be glad to see us coming back.” Slowly, he passed the back of his fingers just under Reo’s eye, brushing against the purple mark there as if willing it to leave. “Are we going to look for a new-born? Or someone a bit older?”

A shrug. Reo sighed and pulled himself up to sit. He knew what he wanted and was ready to get it, but until the last moment, he had hoped. He would love his child no matter who had birthed them, but he knew the same couldn’t be told for Chihiro’s parents; they were not going to accept an adopted heir, no way. It was going to be hard, and he didn’t want a baby to go through that.

“Reo.”

He jumped and almost toppled the dishes of cake on the sheets, but when he looked up his mate’s eyes were all for him, firm and indifferent to the rest of the room. They were so grey too.

Mibuchi knew what people thought of Mayuzumi; that he was a traditionalist and old fashioned, that he was closed-off, snobbish, arrogant even. It didn’t matter. He had grown up with a person that was none of those things and when other omegas looked at him in pity, assuming, all he could do was feeling bad for them in return. Chihiro could be annoying and prideful like a child, but he had a good heart and good love to give.

“Do you really want to go on?”

Lost in his thoughts, it took Reo a moment to realize what those words meant; and when it happened, he felt his stomach drop a few inches in his belly. _What?_ He tried to open his mouth to object, to ask, but Chihiro was faster in putting a hand on his mouth to stop the incoming river of desperate, scared words. Was it because Reo hadn’t–

“No.” Chihiro frowned. “You have your thoughts written on your forehead, you fool. We knew this was a possibility. It doesn’t change anything for me.”

Reo gulped. “Then why?”

Nigou was barking somewhere in the house, probably chasing after Murasakibara and the leftovers of their lunch. Neither of the other two inhabitants of the house could be heard, but that was not a surprise anymore. The whipped cream on top of their cakes was melting off in the dishes.

Chihiro sighed. The hand he had let fall in Reo’s lap moved to his wrist, circled it gently as the thumb started drawing imaginary circles on the skin. “I just meant, we don’t need to do this _now_. We’re not in a hurry as we were before. We have plenty of time, actually, and you just got the news. I am ready to do this even now, you know it, but not if it means rushing you. Not if this is because you think you need a child to keep me around.”

A pang of guilt made Reo’s fingers flinch in the grip. Chihiro noticed, but said nothing of it.

“It’s not that, I–” Damn, did it have to be so hard? Couldn’t he have just been normal, like all other omegas out there? Like Akashi? “I know you’re not going to leave tomorrow morning because of this. Or send me off, for all that matter. It’s not _you_.” Reo sighed, and this time the sound came out wet, half a sob and half a grunt of frustration. “But who are we trying to kid, Chihi? Your parents are going to turn this into a first page headline. _Stupid omega cannot even breed an heir: we told you so_.”

“If my parents dare to breath a word on the matter, what little contact we have now is going to be immediately cut and they can go to hell for all I care.” Chihiro brought his free hand to tug a black strand behind his mate’s ear. “Don’t worry about them, I will handle everything on that front.”

“They’re your family–” Reo tried to argue, but all he got was a bit of a harsher pull on his hair.

“They are the family I was born in, without being consulted on the matter,” he was answered, as the grip on his hair moved to a caress on his cheek. “You are the family I chose for myself. You, and the child we are going to adopt whenever we’ll feel ready for that.”

Reo dropped his gaze. “We already lost so much time, though. I should have listened to you when you told me to stop last autumn, but I really thought one more season could… I don’t know what stupid idea I had in mind. At this point, one last chance wasn’t going to make a difference.”

When they were sixteen or so, Chihiro spotted Reo crying in the garden. His own omega mother had been there, hushing him with a low voice, but her words had been more on the condescending side than comforting. From what he could gather, Mibuchi-san had gotten mad at one more trouble his son had gotten in and the scolding had ended with some kind of physical punishment and a lecture involving how nobody was ever going to accept such an unruly, disrespectful mate.

_Your father was stern_ , had said the woman, _but he makes a good point. You don’t want to end up alone, Reo-chan. Just stop being so stubborn, would you? It’s already going to be hard to find someone who’d want you as it is, you cannot have bad manners too. Here, dry your tears and go apologize._

When he had later asked on the matter, Chihiro had only got a glance at a purple bruise on peeping from the waistband of his friend’s sweatpants as he laid on his stomach and a dismissive sentence. The next day, Reo had been made to start taking lessons in manners and the likes, and he would follow them with borderline desperation, like a guilty worshipper to an altar of salvation.

It had taken Mayuzumi months – with years of retrospection – to realize how insecure of himself Reo had been after his presenting, how terrified he was of being left alone. He knew, rationally, that it wasn’t worth killing a piece of himself over his parents’ close-mindedness, and so he had fought against that terror every day of his life, crushing its remaining crumbles under a strong personality and logic-clad beliefs. This last season, this last chance, had been the first time since then in which he had asked for something irrationally, following a feeling in his gut instead of a reasoned plan padded in fake sentimentalism.

It was the only reason Chihiro had agreed to try one more time, despite holding little faith himself.

Now, looking at his barely held together omega, he wondered if it had been worth it, to lit the spark for once.

Reo was pulling the blankets all over himself, like a cape or a hood, and he was mumbling in the cloth some kind of slow melody. A lullaby, perhaps? It was a nostalgic sound.

Chihiro listened to him, not moving his hands from his skin, until it was Reo who finally lifted his gaze again. His green eyes were duller than before, but maybe that was because they weren’t damp with tears, for now.

“We could wait a bit, I guess,” he whispered, his voice coming muffled by the sheets covering his mouth. “I don’t want to meet a child when I’m still thinking about the one I cannot have. It’s not fair for them.”

“We can wait a while and then go meet the kids when we feel like we can give them our full attention,” Chihiro agreed. As far as deals among them went, he considered this to be a good compromise. To seal it, he bent forward a snuggled his face enough inside the cocoon to steal a kiss from his mate. “Now, eat your cake.”

To prove his point, he picked his own slice up and dug his spoon in to bring a generous bite to his own mouth. Delicious, as always, but Reo’s eyes were more on his lips than on the sweet. When he lifted his gaze, it was full of mischief. “Feed me.”

Chihiro arched a brow. “You have hands. Use them.”

Reo’s answer was a shaking of sheets somewhere at his chest height and a determined pout. “They’re busy,” he huffed, and smiled when his mate stared at him with a blank expression.

It seemed to be saying, _I married this idiot. I chose this for myself._

Chihiro must have decided that he had to bear the consequences of his bad decisions, because he scooped up another bite of cake – not sparing himself a long drained sigh – and brought it to his mate’s mouth.

Once when they were sixteen, they did the same as Reo rested on his stomach and Chihiro tried to understand, silently, how Mibuchi-san could not see the power his son held. So young, and already with an alpha wrapped around his fingers, ready to serve him like a king – albeit complaining a bit – no matter what he asked.

 

 

Shota and Sota Sasaki were identical twins, and they took great pleasure in using that fact to build up little games with the inmates of the structures they ran. They were, much like a peculiar pair of scientists, interested in how much fear they could build in an omega by merely asking ‘ _who am I?_ ’. 

Therefore, it came slightly as an offence to them both, when one of their customers proved able to tell them apart after mere minutes discussing the trade. As they were handling an alpha, though, they pretended not to be bothered.

“Not having something specific in mind is going to make it quite difficult on our part,” Shota started as the three of them raised from the comfortable couch in their office to follow a guard down the corridor to the lower levels. “Our wish is to find the best match possible among what we have to offer.”

“Sure it is, all the merchandise comes here flawed, but we can assure that every piece has been re-trained and fixed,” Sota continued. “You are free to look around and get an idea of what you may prefer, and we will do our best to help find something to your liking.”

“I am here to take a look at what you have to offer,” their guest replied simply, steps light on the floor, between them. “That doesn’t mean I will make one myself, unless I’ll be satisfied plenty.”

The twins shared a look, – _A difficult one. I know–_ , then they looked forward again, because if they had been dubbed the _Genius Twins_ , there was a reason.

“We hope to please you,” they answered as one.

Their little group took a couple turns to a long corridor with grates of metal bars standing side by side, in position like dutiful soldiers, to lock little rooms barely large enough to fit a little bed and a standing person. Three guards were patrolling, up and down, but stopped and bowed respectfully when they noticed the new arrivals.

The scent of fear and desperation was nauseating, the silence eerie and terrifying if not for the steps of the only six free people. Sometimes, one of the prisoners, either standing or sitting on their bunk, trembled at sight of the twins or the stranger, and the soldiers would smack their batons against the bars, the sudden noise breaking the illusion of quietness and ripping a few sounds here and there.

“Well, then. Shall we begin?” Shota asked, but it was Sota, with a theatrical gesture to the doors, who motioned for their guest to walk freely around, taking sight of the people in the cells.

The unknown alpha preceded them, and all the omegas flinched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anything, [my tumblr](http://agapantoblu.tumblr.com)


	18. Chapter 18

 

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

 

When he still lived with his father, Akashi had learnt to pick his allies carefully, and then keep them at arm’s length. Of all the people in his house, he barely ever placed any trust in one of the maids, and only because she’d been by his mother’s side until her death. She was a beta, and his father fired her the moment his wife exhaled her last breath.

Satsuki had been the one and only exception to his unwritten rule. And now, she hadn’t been answering her phone for a whole week.

Seijuro glared at the screen displaying just another _Unanswered Call_ display. He would have thought she’d blocked his number, not knowing it was him calling, but she hadn’t answered from the house nor from Kuroko’s phone, which was worrying at best. Tetsuya had asked a few favours to check on Akashi’s old university, but Momoi hadn’t been to class either. She had called the secretary to claim a health issue that would require her more or less ten days to recover, so Akashi was waiting for that term to end before showing up to her house and demand entrance from her parents.

Most of the restrain necessary to carry on with this decision had come from Kuroko and Murasakibara, rather than Akashi himself.

He threw the phone beside him, not watching as it bounced on the soft mattress, and huffed. He ran a hand through the damp locks to move them from his forehead and watched his fingers wriggling in his socks. They were soft and pink and had a simplified face drawn on them; one of the many presents from Reo as the omega tried to soothe his hurt by taking care of someone else.

On his desk were eight copybooks. Four, were Shimizu’s, Kuroko’s mother; the other four, were Akashi’s translations word by word.

He had yet to tell Tetsuya. In his defence, he’d been up to finish the last translation until four of that very morning, and ended up sleeping in late until almost midday to catch up.

How weird, to think he could do something like that. He had pulled all-nighters more than once to keep up with his studies and duties up until just a couple months before, but he’d never been allowed to stay in bed after seven, not even in his free days. It had taken a while to get used to the lax schedule, the ability to work his time as he preferred, to accept even weakness – _humanity_ – from himself, instead of just jumping up in bed and feeling guilty all day.

He shook his head and threw it back to face the ceiling, his nape and ears digging into the soft towel around his neck. The thick sweatpants and long-sleeved shirt he wore were in dark shades of black that Reo and Ryouta had tried to make him get rid of, but they were soft and warm and he had growled at them both to keep their hands away from his wardrobe.

He was stalling. He was stalling with every kind of thought, hanging desperately on it. It was not like him, and he did not like the change.

So he got up. He got up and threw the towel on the chair, then he grabbed the eight books in a pile and left his room before he could find other reasons to waste more time.

Reo and Chihiro had left the house a couple days after the news. Akashi had already guessed that something about their house wasn’t as soothing as Kuroko’s home, but it had taken him a while to coerce out of his friend that the reason was actually the omega scent he had been releasing in the air. Their home was in a complex with mainly alphas and betas, and the few omegas were quite guarded and secluded, willingly or not.

Atsushi had to be somewhere, instead. Probably with Nigou, feeding him scraps he definitely shouldn’t give him.

Kuroko was in his study. Akashi knew and wasted no time knocking to instead just barge in and settle the books on the desk before Tetsuya had even the time to react past blinking up to him a couple of times.

“There were less of these last time we talked,” he said. Akashi felt the urge to smack him.

“I cracked the code. That’s the translation.”

Kuroko’s eyes flew back to the books in a different way now. They were still unreadable, but there was a light to them now, and Akashi could read the tic in his hands as a ravenous need to pick the books and read and _know_ , to make sense of something that had plagued him for so long.

Akashi only made him struggle for so long before sighing. “Do you want to check them for yourself or do you want a summarized version?”

Tetsuya’s hand caressed the top book for a second. “I would like to hear the short version,” he said. “I don’t think I want to read the details, do I?”

No, he didn’t. The descriptions of the tortures used were quite graphic and terrible, and Akashi didn’t want to imagine what it would feel like for Kuroko to know that his mother had been through that.

“You father was planning on returning to the politics once you were old enough to be left with someone else,” he broke the news mercilessly. Better than letting Tetsuya mull over his mother’s pain. Blue eyes ran to him and he held them firmly. “Your mother entered the facility to gather intel for him, so he could build up a more solid line. Considering how his past work had been turned on him, he wanted to make sure he wouldn’t give the opposition anything more to use against him.”

“I see,” but it was hardly a heartfelt answer. Kuroko kept staring at Akashi with a blank expression, unblinking, unchanging. One would not even believe it was his parents they were talking about, if not for the way his fists were clenched and pale. When he spoke again, his voice trembled slightly. “Anything else?”

Akashi had a suspicion, one regarding how conveniently both the Kuroko, the politician and the survivor, had lost their lives in a car accident only weeks before their planned return to the Hall of the Council. But there was no reason to bring it up without evidence, causing Tetsuya such an anguish that could have been just paranoid thinking. Not before he had anything more on the matter, that was.

Instead, he sat down on one of the chairs in front of the desk. “Your father had a plan to try and use the recognition of omegas as people to try and gain for them the same rights in correctional facilities of alpha and beta prisoners in regular jails.” He shrugged. “Not a big plan, but a start, I guess.”

At this, Kuroko’s chin jerked upward just a bit. Akashi had troubles interpreting it as a sign of offense at the careless dismissal of his father’s work or as a sign of interest. He opted for the latter when Tetsuya said, “And what would have _your_ big plan been, instead?”

Oh, was that a challenge? It didn’t matter, actually. Seijuro had never entered a meeting without a strategy in his whole life. “There are much higher standards for a human being to aim at, on the topic of rights,” he claimed, sharp eyes glowing, and was the left one a bit golden?, Kuroko wondered.

He said, “I agree,” but added nothing. It was clear Akashi had more to say, a more detailed course of action taking shape in his brain, just at the bottom of the black pits of his pupils, but they were both startled out of the tense atmosphere by a chirpy low ringing.

Had it not come from Akashi’s pocket, maybe they would have ignored it.

Kuroko tensed just a bit as Seijuro pulled the device out of his pocket, but he relaxed when the omega said, “It’s Satsuki.”

“You should answer her. I know you’ve been trying to contact her for a while. I’ll be waiting.”

Akashi glared at him, perhaps annoyed that he’d just been give _permission_ to do something as mundane as answering his phone, but he seemed to be getting better at picking his battles since he just excused himself rapidly and left the room.

The notebooks stayed behind, and Kuroko eyed them warily.

 

 

For as irritating as having his meeting with Kuroko interrupted when he was just getting into laying a few ideas on the negotiation table, Akashi couldn’t deny the sheer relief filling him as Satsuki’s name blinked on his display. A week without any answer shouldn’t have been a problem with all the time they’d been apart at the beginning of this new arrangement of life, but now that they had means and opportunity, the lack of updates had felt much more dreading and nerve-wracking. 

Seijuro looked forward to the scolding he could provide, after the last few he’d received from his friend, so he answered as soon as he had the door of Kuroko’s study closed behind him. “Satsuki, what a pleasant surprise to _finally_ hear back from you.

“ _Sei, I– I fucked up._ ”

Akashi tensed. Momoi’s voice came in a low, barely audible, whisper, cracked by sudden in-breaths and voice drops. She sounded like she was, or had been, crying, and she sniffed audibly one before exhaling loudly from her lips. “Satsuki?”

“ _No, Sei, listen. I really, really, fucked up big, this time. I–_ ” A weird sound came from her. Like a whimper or a sob. “ _I need you here, Sei. I don’t know what to do… Please. Sei, please, I need your help, and–_ ”

“Where are you?” He didn’t wait for her to answer; he slammed the door to Kuroko’s study open again, and met startled blue eyes with his own determined ones.

“ _I rented one of the students’ flats, in the grey complex two blocks down from the school._ ”

“I’ll be there, wait for me,” Kuroko picked up the urgency in his voice and jumped up immediately. He had a jacket in his left hand and the car keys in his right by the time he reached Akashi. “What’s the flat number?”

“ _204\. Sei–_ ”

“Ten minutes,” he swore, climbing down the stairs twice at step. “Fifteen tops. Are you hurt?”

“ _No, I’m just– Sei, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I’m sorry._ ”

There was something wrong. Something utterly, despicably _wrong_ , in hearing Momoi cry and being too far to reach her; in listening to her apologies with no idea what they were meant for, even as he slammed the car door open by the passenger seat.

Akashi’s heartbeat was too fast and fluttering, a hummingbird’s, and he could not bear the feeling of caged stillness anymore. “Satsuki. Satsuki, _listen to me,_ ” he didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t scream, nor growl, nor bite. His voice came our firm and steady, as unshakable as a god on their throne. “I’ll be there soon. You will explain what happened. I will make it right. Tell me you understood me.”

“ _Okay…_ ” she still sniffled, but she sounded steadier. Akashi strived not to sigh in relief. His left eye was pulsing just a bit, but he ignored it. Kuroko turned the car on, but the sound of the engine couldn’t hide some type of noise on the line, a little commotion of some kind, and suddenly Momoi’s voice was once again full of hurry. “ _Sei, I need to go._ ”

“Wait, Sat–” The line went mute against his ear. He cursed, vulgarly and loudly, as he pulled the phone from his ear.

Kuroko’s eyes were trained on the road as they passed the gates of the mansion, his hands white in their grip on the steering wheel. “Where to?”

Akashi gave him the address. He was not surprised of the unquestioning help he was receiving, but he was grateful nonetheless, even more so when Tetsuya pressed just a bit too much on the gas pedal.

The address Momoi gave them was not further than a ten minutes ride, indee, but Akashi was skilled at managing his time and was able to make it be enough for a full tour of every possible worst-case-scenario his mind could provide, indulge in a moment of panic, and then find a solution for every considered option. He also valued a couple punishments to deliver in case it all turned out to be a misunderstanding, or even worse a _joke_.

As they reached the entrance door, Kuroko stopped on the side of the street to let Akashi climb off. “I’ll find a spot to park and catch up with you,” he said, but without looking at his mate, too busy typing something. Probably to Murasakibara, Akashi decided, but he didn’t stop asking.

He slammed the car door with no more gentleness than he applied on the door of the complex to get in, and ignored the glare he received by the lady at the entrance to slip into an open elevator. He pressed the button for the second floor thrice, just in case the stupid thing didn’t catch the hint. Then he got another minute to both panic and talk himself down from it.

Momoi had called, had been able to explain as much as possible on the phone, didn’t sound injured or as if someone was keeping her hostage, so it was probable that whatever danger or threat, it wasn’t imminent nor residing in her own house. That didn’t slim the amount of other possibilities by much, but he was willing to take his victories for now.

The elevator opened with a cheerfully annoying _pling_. Fuck it.

_204._ The door closest to his showed _225_ so he was on the wrong end of the building, damn. He started speed-walking down the corridor, keeping an eye out for every door, his shoulders tense as he waited for any sign of threat. Even not considering whatever had scared Momoi so much, almost all of the University students had already presented by the time they enrolled so there was a good chance that the building was full of Alphas and Betas alone. At most some un-presented exceptions. Akashi’s suppressants hadn’t yet come around to lessen his scent enough not to make him an absolute beacon for any horny student; and his nerves weren’t bound to help him remember Reo’s few lessons on regulating himself.

The more he walked, the more he was assaulted by an whole numb of scents. Sodas, lots of different foods, detergent from the grey moquette under his feet, something that he’s afraid to say might be weed, and then–

He stopped dead on his feet. For a moment, just once, he hoped to be wrong, that someone might have just cut himself cooking, or slipped on something. But the scent of blood was too much, too thick, it had to be something bigger, so he threw what little shreds of morality he had left and just prayed that if someone had to be injured, and badly so it seemed, they weren’t Momoi. Just not her; everyone, but her.

Then he turned his head toward the smell and looked up to the plaque. _204._

He almost launched himself against the door. When he realized it was close, he pounded on it, skipping knocking altogether. “Satsuki!”

Someone might have heard him, but he didn’t care. They might have come and take him, yet he couldn’t bring himself to even consider the possibility over a fleeting thought.

Blood. Blood, blood, blood, _protect, protect, protect–_

His punches on the door covered the sound of steps until the person inside was just attached to the door, and even then Akashi barely stopped long enough to allow it to be opened.

Satsuki was there, eyes wide and reddened, hair a mess. Her arms were hugging her stomach nervously, and rather than her usual put-together attire, she was dressed in a big track suit that covered her from ankles to wrists, the jacket also zipped close all the way under her jaw.

A few of the scenarios he had imagined in the car came back violently and painted wounds, bruises, every kind of mark on the hidden skin of her. For a moment, the wrath surging inside clouded his mind completely.

Then, before she could even speak, he heard it. A sound so soft he wouldn’t have caught it had his senses been any less alerted than they were. A moan?, no, a whimper. From inside the apartment, from right behind–

_Alpha!_ Akashi almost reeled against the sudden impulse to jump away from Satsuki. Her scent that so often had been his den of safety as they grew up, suddenly felt threatening and hostile, stained with an unknown note. Something possessive and owning and territorial.

The scent of blood hit him with more strength as Satsuki opened the door just a bit more, having recognized the person on the other side, and that was when it really dawned on him.

_Blood, protect, blood, blood, protect, Alpha!, Alpha!, get in, protect, protect!_

“Sei, I–”

Akashi pushed her aside.

He didn’t even register doing so, not really, not fully. His brain was trying to work on auto-pilot and no matter how much he tried to keep control, the more he picked up, the more he felt utterly unhinged, thrown into a vortex of needs and instincts.

He barely heard Momoi behind him as he passed the bedroom door and just stomped into the other one big room that functioned as both kitchen and living room. When he stopped, on his left was a counter and on his right a drawer with nothing on it. But in front of his eyes, curled up at the feet of the couch, whimpering and biting on their lower lip in a strenuous effort to choke the sobs shaking their body completely, was a person.

_Omega._

Akashi was frozen. His breath was erratic now, his brain unable to process. The figure seemed to be trying to flatten themselves as possible against the couch, face and upper body hidden so that it was hard to tell if they were male or female, but the very visible thing, the part of their body that Akashi couldn’t tear his eyes away from, was their left leg.

The red was blinding.

“I’m sorry.” The motion to turn was stiff, hindered by the voice in his head yelling to jump on the other omega and shield them with his body from the oncoming alpha. “Sei, I’m sorry, I swear, I am, I just– I couldn’t–”

“Tell me it wasn’t you,” he said, barely recognizing his voice himself. “Tell me you’re not the one who broke their leg.”

“What? No!” Momoi’s shock sounded real and Akashi’s rationality took over just a bit more. “Sei, I would never hurt him! You don’t get it, I just…couldn’t abandon him there! Who knows what else they would have done to him!"

Of the whole speech, all Akashi regained was _him_ and _I’ll need explanations later_. After that, his brain finally shut down to give space to the more primal part of him that threw him on his knees on the carpet and brought his hand to lower the neck of his shirt.

The other omega jerked with an umpteenth suppressed sob, but when he inhaled he seemed to stop himself. Akashi let his scent grow thicker, slowly as to not seem overbearing, and tried to bring to his mind every memory of cuddling with Reo and Kise he had to help add a bit of reassuring cinnamon to his usual flavour. He thought of Takao’s work and he slowly crawled one step closer.

It felt much like wearing a horse’s blinders. Nothing existed anymore but the shivering figure in front of him that was now sniffing wetly at the air and slowly, carefully, turning just enough to reveal a tiny slice of face.

For a moment, a stupid one, Akashi’s brain wondered if he had blue skin. Than he realized it was a bruise, one that covered his whole cheekbone and blackened the eye, reddening the sclera and closing the lid so much that it was hard to make out the colour of the iris. It was possibly brown, Akashi thought; just like his hair, under a thick layer of sweat and grime, seemed to be a light shade of brown.

Aside from the blood-stained bandages around his left calf, the only other thing covering him was some kind of ill-fitting blue gym-suit. It looked like Momoi’s old one and for a moment Akashi wondered how it could fit a male around their age, but then he realized that the only problem was the length of legs and arms, because otherwise the guy was so thin the shirt hung from him shoulder.

_Protect, protect, protect!_

“Satsuki, go away.”

“What?”

He didn’t turn to look at her. “Kuroko must be almost here and the last thing I need is another alpha entering this room.” And it wasn’t for him, that they needed to avoid it. This omega looked ready to pass out any moment, and the stress of one more alpha could be definitely too much. “Catch him before he arrives and wait out of the door until I call you.”

It had been a long time since he’d used that commanding tone. Even longer since he’d tried it on her. He didn’t have the time to be pleased at how easily obeyed it was, though, because his focus wouldn’t leave the omega in front of him even as the echo of Momoi’s steps faded further away.

Only when the apartment door closed, and cut off the strong scent of alpha, did the omega dare to turn his face completely toward Akashi. It was stained in tears and snot, but the most visible thing other than the black eye were the split lip and a missing patch of hair on the right temple, substituted by a big crust of dried blood.

When he opened his mouth, the first thing he said was: “I’m sorry.”

Akashi didn’t get it, but the other repeated it. Again, and again, and again. A desperate mantra without reason, moved by hopeless desperation. It took Akashi far too long to realize this was a conditioned response, something that had been somehow drilled into the guy’s mind, that he ought to _apologize_. The gods knew what for.

He crawled just a bit closer, not enough to get into arms reach, though. He doubted it would have gone over very well. “You don’t need to apologize,” he tried, but as the other started shaking his head vehemently he decided to try with another approach. “My name is Akashi Seijuro,” he said. “Can you tell me yours?”

He couldn’t, apparently. He just sobbed and whispered a string of numbers.

Shimizu Kuroko, in her third book, had written: _Some days, I can hardly recall my own name. How it sounds, when spoken out loud. Some days I try to write it down, and it takes me a few attempts because my hand traces the digits of my identification number, rather than the kanji of my first name._

Satsuki had said: _I just couldn’t abandon him there!_

Akashi wanted to curse and punch a hole into the coffee table beside him. He wanted to burn something to the ground, preferably the correctional facility.

_He’s still alive,_ Hyuuga had said. _They got him to a leg, apparently._

It was too much to believe, too big of a coincidence, but if anyone knew all details about that day at the school, that was Momoi. Akashi himself had told her absolutely everything. He didn’t know what to feel about this new possibility.

“ _675-2283,_ ” the omega kept on repeating.

Akashi slipped closer yet. “Your leg is bleeding again,” he said. “I can help with it, if you let me.”

The broken sob that answered him ripped Akashi’s self control in half, and a soft growl built in his chest before he could stop it. For a moment, he feared it’d scare the other, but the guy just sucked a breath in and blinked at him. Somehow, he must have read that the rage wasn’t against him, but _for_ him, in his defence.

His brow eye slipped to the door anxiously before coming back to Akashi’s. Tentatively, hesitant, he whispered: “It hurts.”

“I know.” Akashi gulped, then picked the upturned white box on the coffee table. He’d seen Momoi first-aid kit already, so he felt rather confident in searching through it.

He imagined her trying to help, without realizing just how stressful her only presence was; he thought of her clothes and realized how much skin they covered, how much they dampened her scent. He thought, _she had good intentions_. He also thought, _they’re only good for paving the path to Hell._ He shook his head.

“Can you try to remember what you name is?” he asked instead, pulling a roll of gauze from the box and a pair of thin scissors.

The guy whined, but still outstretched his leg. He didn’t outwardly refuse, so Akashi worked on him, slowly unmaking the old bandage, and waited. Pulling the cloth from the bloodied skin was a miserable duty, anyway, and it took all his focus to avoid ripping out some skin too.

_Shit_. He was no doctor, but he was fairly sure the bullet may have still been in the flesh. The gaping hole was black and still bleeding. It needed stitches and antiseptic and a competence Akashi didn’t have.

_Focus, regroup._ “I have to make a call,” he said, before the solution had even fully lodged into his brain. “I’ll need to ask Satsuki, Momoi-san, to come back inside. My mate too, probably. Would that be okay?”

Brown eyes widened. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to be ungrateful, I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please, don’t – I’m sorry!”

Burning the whole facility down was not enough, Akashi realized. It was a herculean effort to quell down his rage once more, but when he managed he found his hands had abandoned the gauzes to reach for the other omega’s hands instead. “There is nothing to apologize for,” he found himself saying. “And you have my word, no one will ever hurt you again.”

It was a heavy promise, but Akashi felt it settle in his bones with the glory and fierceness of a phoenix. It was the truth.

The omega looked at him in awe and fear at the same time, for long minutes of agony until, finally, he gulped. He didn’t say anything, but slowly, hesitantly, he nodded.

Akashi squeezed his hands just a bit before standing up and walking, slowly, to the entrance of the apartment. He caught the scents slipping under the door first, maybe because he was so attuned to them now, and just a moment later the hushed voices. When he opened the door, Momoi was leaning heavily on Kuroko’s chest, striving not to burst out crying, and he was awkwardly trying to pat her back and console her, probably not even knowing what was going on.

They both jerked as the door opened, and Momoi immediately came closer, as if trying to get in, but Akashi blocked her path. “Kuroko,” he called, still staring at her. “I need your phone.”

Momoi stared, confused, but Akashi just stood there, still, even as he took his mate’s phone and pressed in the digits he had memorized as per Reo’s demand. He sent a text, because calls were too dangerous to answer depending on the place and situation, but he was as detailed as possible and included the address before pressing send.

Once he was done, he looked at his friend again. “What. Have. You. Done.”

For the first time today, Momoi seemed to regain a bit of her usual attitude as she straightened up and glared right back. “What I had to,” she hissed. “You’ve seen him, Sei! He wouldn’t have survived much longer, they were just trying to get rid of him!”

He _knew_ , goddammit, did she think him blind? “What were you even doing in a correctional facility?!”

Momoi bit her lips, but just a moment, and she crossed her arms right after. “You are my friend, Sei,” she said. “I had no idea any of this was this bad before you presented, okay? When you told me what happened, I thought–”

“What? That you could have been a heroine and saved us all, one by one?” he hissed, interrupting her firmly. “This is so much bigger than you can deal with, Satsuki! He’s traumatized, he can’t even remember his own name! How long has he been here? A day, two?” He gritted his teeth. “A _week_?”

“He seemed to be healing and I couldn’t take him to an hospital, anyway! I haven’t exactly told my family I bought an omega from a facility!”

_Bought_. The word bounced all over the inside of Akashi’s skull, making useless mush of his brain. _Bought_.

“He’s got the bullet still in his leg, Satsuki.”

He felt cold, he felt like puking, he felt…he didn’t know how he felt. He felt like maybe he wanted to curl up beside the other omega and stay there until someone came to save them. He felt the phone buzzing in his hand.

Satsuki had gone pale and then greenish, at his words, but he ignored her. The display flashing in front of his eyes only said, _15 minutes_ , but it was enough to settle some of the tension in his shoulders.

When she tried to speak again, he cut her off. “What’s done is done, Satsuki. Now let’s just try to help as we can,” and he turned back into the house, letting the door open for the alphas to follow him.

He was not really surprised when, in the living room, he found the other guy rocking himself with his healed leg to his chest, face hidden on his knee, and muttering soft “I’m sorry”s under his breath. Still, it made his fists clench.

Someone took a deep breath. Probably Kuroko. He was too used to hide his emotions to allow himself to freak out, and his scent immediately softened as he realized what was going on.

Carefully slow, Akashi knelt again besides the other omega’s hurt leg and he touched his sane one with his hand. “Some people who can help are on their way here,” he murmured. He didn’t know if his words were even reaching, because the litany of apologies never ceased, but he had tried. “It’s going to feel better soon.”

“Sakurai.”

The guy jerked, his breath hitching as if stumbling on itself. Akashi turned suddenly, but Momoi gulped and kept her eyes on _her mate_.

“His name–,” she repeated lowly, “–is Sakurai. Sakurai Ryou. It’s written in his folder.”

The apologies had stopped. When Akashi turned, _Sakurai_ seemed to be wrapping his lips around the silent shapes of his name’s kanji. Again and again, searchingly, incredulously, but with more life than he’d seemed to have before. Akashi let him do it, silently caressing his leg.

He mentally willed Midorima to be faster than the fifteen minutes he’d promised.


End file.
